The Other World
by Roringugaru
Summary: He's with me all the time i can't control him. i can't see him, but i can feel his presence all the time. we're connected. his memories are all but gone except for a few fragments. those fragments show something that we shouldn't tamper with. full of something unknown... my friends can't understand it completely but they know...something is coming. and it's connected to Soul and me
1. Chapter 1

**Ok so if you read the update in my beast tamer story you kind of have some idea what this is about. this is sort of a cross over in the sense that I took an idea from the new game Beyond 2 souls but that's it. so as such when Soul is talking to Airi it will be in bold and when Airi is talking to Soul in her mind it will be in bold and underlined. Ok I'll stop talking and let you read now.**

_Prologue:_

_How did it come to this? In the bloody triangle…friends now turned enemy… they all look at me now with disappointment and rejection. I still remember the first time I met them back in the bar how I ended up on their ship in a barrel. For once things seemed to have been good in my life. I finally had something I had never had before…I had friends. Friends who accepted not only me but him as well. I couldn't keep him a secret for long…he likes to cause trouble…so I told them. I thought once they did accept him. Things would be fine. But things have been set into motion now…events that can't be changed. Now…I have no one to turn to…no one but him… and as my tears of regret mix with the rain all I feel from friendship now is sorrow and anguish... _

_Yes…how did things come to this? If I think back now… I would have to say it all started here…_

Soul and Airi

I am cleaning classes at the bar I work part time at the moment. I wasn't supposed to work today but the person working today said they couldn't come in. so I'm standing in for her.

"Hey." I say to the empty room, "If I clean them will you put the glasses away for me; you should know where they go by now right?" Soon the other glasses that I already cleaned start floating as well and head to a shelf behind me. "Thank you." The bar doesn't open for another hour and the owner is out at the moment buying some more ingredients for the food we sell. Soon I finish all the glasses and take the time to sweep the floor. As I'm lost in my thoughts there's a thunk on the floor; turning I see the dustpan on the ground ready to pick up the dust on the ground. "Thank you." I sweep the dirt into the pan and it floats over to the trash can by itself. As I head to put to broom away things move behind me; when I turn the whole bar looks as if I closed it for the night. Chairs were stacked on the table and the lamps turned off. I can't help but let out a sigh, "Please not today…" I say as I start putting the chairs back down. "Ah?!" as soon as I look up the mirror that was supposed to be hanging on the wall is showing me my reflection. "Hey…oh…" it turns out that there was some dust on my face and I wipe it off. As I do so I'm able to see myself. Black hair as dark as the night sky long that reaches a little further down my shoulders and blue eyes. They're big and sad. Although I'm 19 I still seem a little younger in looks finally I take care of the dust on my face "Ok, now please put it back." The mirror floats back to where it was before and hangs on the wall again. He isn't a normal person…I'm not even sure if he's even a person from what he's told me. But I do know he's always around…he is my friend but at the same time because of him I have to stay away from others. Sometimes it's has to do with him but other times if has to do with me…I don't know if I can trust others.

**Someone is coming.**

Sure enough as he tells me the door opens and six people walk in. they're all pirates from the look of things, although that's all I pay attention to at the moment. I can make out his agitation as he doesn't seem to like them at first glance, although he never likes anyone at first glance.

**Stop…! Don't start anything please.** I pay no mind to the fact that they are pirates and give a small smile.

"Um…I'm sorry but we aren't open just yet." There's one wearing a hat with a feather and a red captain jacket that hangs on his shoulders. His hair seems to be about the same slightly dark brown of his eyes. There's a small patch of hair on his chin as well and he seems to be the oldest out of all of them. He speaks up,

"Aw come on this is on of the best bars here in Yamato. Can't you make an exception?" I shake my head no. "How come?"

**Persistent-!**

**Stop…**

"I'm sorry sir but the owner is actually out right now and I can't open when he's gone until the time says it's afternoon." I explain.

"Too bad…this place has the best Sake." He sighs disappointed by the news.

"Hey…" the one addressing me now has a man with an eye patch. He's a bit scary looking. His one brown eye seems to be studying me making me draw back a bit. His black hair seems to come out of place in front a bit. He continues to study me almost making me run away. Until finally, "Aren't you a bit young to be working at a bar kid."

"I…I'm not a kid. I'm 19 years old. So long as I don't drink any of the liquor I can work here." I retort in a shaky voice.

"Hmpf if you're going to try defending yourself at least have the spine to look me in the eye." I squeeze my eyes shut tight.

"Leave her alone; you're scaring her." he's scolded by someone else

"Doc if want me to scare her then I'll throw her into the ocean."

**What?! **

**I don't think he meant that! Don't take everything so seriously.**

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?" I look up at another member that has short black hair; he looks at me with kind eyes. I have to look away again because of his smile; I think any girl would fall for him and he wouldn't even have to try very hard either. "You shouldn't take him so seriously; he's just trying to pick on you is all." A look of concern comes over him, "Although I think even though you're 19 you shouldn't be working here. Why are you here."

"part time…"

"You work somewhere else? That's stupid why would you work two jobs?" a blonde haired man asks.

"Um…well…I don't make enough money from my other job…so this one sort of makes up for it." although he's not as scary as the guy with an eye patch this green eyes look at me as if he's judging me. I look away and catch a man with a bandana looking at the kitchen. His sandy brown hair peaks thought the back as he continues to stare. It kind of looks like his brown eyes look as though they're sparkling but I don't think I should say anything to him about it. Suddenly his eyes me mine as he narrows them,

"What are you staring at?"

"Sorry…"

"Excuse me but are you really sure that you can't open the bar?" I look over at the person who seems to be the youngest in the group. He still looks sort of like a boy with his big brown eyes and messy brown hair. "Captain's been really looking forward to coming here. Can't you please make an exception?" I'm almost tempted to say yes but I manage to furiously shake my head no again.

"I'm sorry but rules are rules. I can't change them or break them."

**Annoying bugs…** he's is starting to get really annoyed now.

**Please don't…**

**They need to leave. You've said it twice now; they can't have anything yet.**

**That doesn't mean you can just-**

"Are you ok?" I snap back to the others the captain looking at me a little unsure.

"I-I'm fine." the door opens and the owner comes in, "Um…I'm sorry I was just telling them that we weren't open yet."

"Haha! It's fine actually I'm in a good mood right now. Go ahead and open the store Airi."

"Ah…yes sir. I guess you can take your seats then." They take their pick of seats and choose a corner seat. The captain seems to be the most excited out of all them. As soon as I flip the close sign to open customers of various kinds pour into the bar. The owner stays behind the bar to cook the food and make drinks while I go around taking orders and sending orders to their right table.

**Those people over at the table in the far right corner are getting impatient.**

"Um…where is table 12's order?"

"Coming right up. In the mean time can you take this to table 6?" I take the tray full of drinks over to the pirate that came in before. "Here you go, sorry for the wait." I pass the drinks out to them. "Um…do you all need more time to decide what to eat?"

"What would you recommend?" the one with a bandana asks me.

"Oh…um…well I wouldn't-"

"Hey! What does a guy have to do in order to get so food around here?!" there are a few thugs that come into the bar rowdy and it looks as though they're already drunk. I look back at the owner hesitant about what to do. He only shrugs he shoulders and nods over to an empty table in the back.

"Excuse me I'll be right back." The pirates allow me to tend to the thugs and I quietly lead them back to their table. As they sit down I try to leave them so they can take a moment to order but one grabs hold of my arm making me tense.

"Aren't you going to take our order?"

"Well…yes but…in a minute…I um…I have to take care of the other guests too."

**Grrrr…! **I can sense his agitation rising with every second. I manage to pull my arm away but only a second too late; an empty glass on the table goes flying into the thugs face. Luckily it didn't shatter,

"Ouch! What the hell!" the whole place becomes silent with every one looking at us.

**Look what you did! Everyone's staring!**

"E-excuse me." leaving a very awkward silence in the main room I head into secluded hallway to catch my breath.

"What did you think you were doing out there?! You know you're not supposed to cause trouble Soul!"

**He was scaring you. All I did was make him let go.**

"You could have hurt him…! That's the last thing we need right now and you know it." my fingers rub a temple in a circular motion as I try to calm down, "Look…it's not that I don't appreciate the save but…I need this job Soul. We can't stay in our home if we don't make money to pay what we owe. I just really need for you to try and control your temper…please."

…

"Please Soul…just try."

**Fine but no promises…**

"Okay…" I take a deep breath and head back out; the noisy tavern is back to normal and it looks as though the thugs from before have left.

**You scared them off from what it looks like.**

**Good, that means they got the message.**

Ignoring Soul I start heading for other tables continuing on with the tasks of taking orders and delivering food. As time passes things seem to calm down and by the early evening there are only a few people left in the tavern including the first group that was here before. It seems like the captain keeps going on about stories about different treasures and what not. I can hear parts of their conversation about cursed treasures, different places… something called a field day they take part in every year. It all sounds so interesting that it sort of distracts me from my work.

**You should be paying attention to what your doing.**

**I am…it's not my fault that they're loud…**

**Heh…that's a bit of a lame excuse but fine say what you want.** He doesn't have to say it like that does he? Soul leaves me alone to continue working when the door bursts open with troops of the Yamato Navy. The whole tavern becomes silent even the group of six in the corner. What's more everyone in the tavern has a reason to be tense with Junpei here. A second division captain that abuses his power, Junpei does anything and everything to make our lives here miserable he's the reason my first job being an artist is making it so hard to keep up with taxes and what not. I sell my goods at decent prices and since I refuse to raise my prices I have to work here at this bar. I would rather avoid it but since Junpei runs this part of Yamato there's no way around it. Junpei takes a seat in the middle of the bar along with his men. The few customers we still had hurry to pay for their food and leave accept for the pirates from before. Something hits the back of my neck making me look this way and that until I find that the unnamed captain is beckoning me over. I hurry over and see what they want.

"Did you need something?"

"Who is that guy?"

"Um…someone you may not want to get involved with. His name is Junpei he's a captain in the Yamato Navy. But he's a real thug and bully; he's raised the taxes here and uses his power for his own purposes. Yet even the emperor doesn't find out about all of it."

"Has he given you all trouble here?" the one that looks like the doctor asks.

"Well other than raising taxes not really…it's the reason why I work here. What I do actually doesn't cover the costs of living so I had to take this job." They all seem to have serious looks on their faces, "you should…try avoiding Junpei." I warn, "He…doesn't like outsiders."

"Just do as you're told old man!" Junpei shouts at the top of his lungs before there's a bug thud. The owner picks himself up off the ground clutching his bad shoulder.

"Ah…! Uncle!" panicked I rush over to him and help to brush him off. "Are you alright?!"

"Yes, yes… I'm alright Airi."

**Damn them!**

**Soul no don't! please don't!**

**What do you mean DON'T?! They just tried to injure him! Why shouldn't I snap their necks?! **

**You know what that will cause to happen…I know you want to help but think in the long run. If you hurt them. they'll blame us and shut down this place…uncle can't lose-**

"Ack!" someone pulls me away from my uncle pulling me away from him.

"Just the person I wanted to see. Why don't you entertain us Airi?"

"No…! Please Junpei just order something and leave!" I try to pull out of his grip but he only makes it so that I can't escape by embracing me.

"Now that's not nice. We came all this way to see you and this is how you're going to treat us?" suddenly he pushes me away and I'm caught by his men.

"No! please Junpei take anything you want but please I'm begging you leave my niece alone!"

"I thought I told you to stay out old man! you want me to take your bar? Just let us have some fun with her and I'll let you go that's a fair trade isn't it?"

"Eek, No Stop!" the underlings start letting their hands wander over my body as I struggle against them.

**LEAVE HER ALONE! **Suddenly a window shatters stopping all activity. A tense silence fills the room.

"What the hell was that?" Junpei asks.

"I don't know did someone throw a rock at the window?"

"No you Idiot! Do you see any rocks in here?!" I look at uncle and he shares the same knowing fear that I do. Soul has officially lost his temper. I look at the group in the corner they seem just as curious about what happened. A few of them ask me silently what it was but I can't answer. Suddenly a hand grabs my face squeezing my cheeks as Junpei pays no mind to what happened. "Well then how about we get back to what we were doing before. I think you owe us a bit of fun Airi."

"No please!"

"Shut up old man!"

"Alright I think you've had enough fun." The unknown captain ad the others finally get up from their seats to fight but the candles all go out making everyone freeze.

**KILL…**

Glass begins to crack all around us,

**KILL YOU ALL! **

I'm releases as they try to cover themselves as the windows and drinking glasses along with the liquor bottles shatter. I can't stop him when he's like this. Soul will not listen. There's a scream in the darkness as I hear one of Junpei's men is dragged off. A second later the man goes flying into the front doors taking the doors with him outside.

"Who's doing that?!"

"What's going on?!" **Soul Don't hurt the others! Stop it!**

**DIE! DIIIIIEEEE! **I have to get out of her before anyone else gets hurt! I run out the front forcing Soul to be dragged along with me,

**What the hell are you doing?!**

"Making sure the others and uncle can't get hurt." I don't know how far or for how long but I keep running until I can't any more. Collapsing in an ally way I take a minute to catch my breath. My chest is on fire as my heart pounds fiercely. Soul has seemed to take the time to calm down now getting control of himself again.

**I'm sorry about that…**

"Yeah well you should be!" I shout, "I asked you not to lose your temper, and you do it any way! I mean- damn it Soul- uncle could have lost his bar because of that! Why? Just please tell me WHY can you never control yourself?!"

…

"And no doubt they blame uncle for all of this too…"

**I made no promise that I would keep my temper in check…I'm sorry for causing you trouble but this is how I am. You should be used to it by now.**

"Yeah well I'm not, OK?! This isn't just MY life we're talking about here Soul! You can't just go around killing people because they hurt me! It doesn't work like that!"

…**I'm sorry…but when you're threatened…I have to act… **I take a deep breath realizing he's right. It's in his nature to react to what threatens me. That's why I try to alienate myself. It's why I can't let myself be around anyone…why I am alone. Tears sting the corner of my eyes and I bend down trying to hold my tears back. **Please don't cry…I don't know what to do when you cry…I can't do anything. **

**I know Soul…I know…just give me a minute…**

…**I'm really sorry…**

**I forgive you…**

After calming down I stand up.

"You only killed that one soldier right…you didn't hurt anyone else?"

**no just him you left before I could do anything else.**

"Don't sound so disappointed…" without looking to see what was out beyond the ally way I walk out and end up bumping into someone. "Ah…sorry I wasn't-" my body freezes at the sight of seeing Junpei in front of me. His face is a bit cut up from the glass that went flying back in the bar. "AaaaAhhhHhh…" my body shakes at seeing him.

"Well this is an nice surprise. Found you Airi."

**Run! **I take Soul's command and turn to run for it. **Keep running he's not alone!**

**Don't kill them!**

**They make it really hard not to!**

**Just do something to make them lose my tracks.**

**Grrr! Fine!**

Heading down another ally way there are barrels that soul uses to knock my pursuers down. But it does nothing to stop them. I come to an intersection leading into different directions but I have no idea which way to take. I'm bad with directions for one thing and I haven't come this way at night before. Which way do I go?

**Left! Go left!** following his directions I go left and head to the harbor. Why here?

**Find some place to hide. He's not going to quit unless he can't find you. **Frantically I look in different directions trying to find a food hiding spot. I can't just jump onto a ship can I? They'll think I'm a sow away.

"Find her!" I don't have a choice…um…eeny meany miney….that one! Racing onto the ship I make sure no one is around and head straight for the lower storage areas. Thinking that Junpei will find me by just barging onto a ship I look for something I can hide in. surprisingly I find an empty barrel and jump inside placing the lid over it. seconds pass and then minutes and hours….but I don't move afraid of being caught in the open. Cramped in the wooden barrel I begin to feel drowsy and somehow manage to fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

A Secret to Hide; Christopher's Kind Gestures

The captain of the Sirius and his crew had eventually found me. It was hard not to with my annoying banging on the barrel I was stuck in. I was somehow able to fall asleep hiding from Junpei until I finally woke up to the feeling of my stomach being queasy. The chef whose name is Nathan was the first to hear me. He wasn't exactly too happy to find that I was there in the barrel. When he took me to the others in the mess hall they instantly recognized me from my uncles bar. I tried to explain how I got onto the ship and why I was even here but Eduardo the navigator and the one who has the eye patch began to threaten that he would throw me into the ocean feeding me to the sharks if I didn't come up with a better excuse then after that he called me a kid. Which to be quite honest I was. After the doctor Christopher scolded Eduardo they all went about trying to figure out what to do with me. I begged them to take me back so I wouldn't be a burden but Morgan the captain said that would be impossible that they were already heading to their next destination. I understood that I really did. But they didn't know that there was an eighth person in the conversation. As soon as Eduardo threatened me he became really agitated wanting to get us off the ship as soon as possible. He doesn't like strangers even ones that aren't a threat but he'll leave them alone so long as they leave me alone. After some time Captain Morgan decided to make me apart of their crew. So now here I am unsure of what to do, staring into the mirror of the bathroom trying to figure out something to do…before I have to spend the night with a total and complete stranger…a man no less. Christopher seemed to be the safest out of them all so I chose to stay with him. during the whole conversation on what to do with me he kept vouching for me and seems to have moral…something a little unusual for a pirate that I have ever come across. I take a deep breath,

**This is a dangerous situation…**

"Yeah you're right…but I think more so for them than us…" I hear Soul growl as he knows what I'm talking about, "Look I know you don't like people in general unless you know them…which is sort of stupid because that means you won't EVER like anyone."

**Your point?**

"Soul you know what I mean…" I say rather sternly, "You can't kill these people. They're not going to hurt me."

**You don't know that-**

"And neither do you…and you never do know because you always attack before you ever find out…!" I can feel my muscles tense as I become stressed at the dangerous situation I have now found myself in or rather that I have found the Sirius in. "You're not going to hurt them…got it?"

…

"SOUL!"

…**no promises.**

"No you are promising this time. You're not hurting anyone on this ship got it? no if, ands, or buts about it."

***sigh***** yes I understand you. I won't kill anyone.** With that I take one final deep breath and open the bathroom door. _Ok…Soul will do his part, now I need to do mine. Unless I need to…I should keep contact as little as possible. _

"Hey kid." I turn to see Eduardo glaring at me.

"Y-yes…"

"if you don't pull your own weight I'm going to feed you to the sharks got it?" I turn my gaze downwards from him and nod. I somehow can't help but feel that he will actually do it.

"yes…I understand. Did…did you need me to do something for you?"

"Don't make me laugh. I don't need help from a woman. Especially not a little kid like you." With that he walks by me with a smug grin on his face. _Is he always so blunt? I can't help but feel like he actually was just teasing me though. _something wizzes by me,

"Ow!" I turn to see Eduardo holding the back of his head. "What the hell?!" I look down to see a stray pebble that had his him. I don't even know where it could have come from. Quickly I leave the area so not to suffer his wrath before I turn mine on someone else,

**Soul! What did I just say?**

**You said I couldn't kill them…never said anything about throwing things at them.** _well he has me there._

Trying to make myself useful I try doing some house work that I could find to do. I start with sweeping the floor when I notice Thomas trying to take care of some laundry. Even though Soul complains I still help Thomas hang the laundry before going back to what I was doing first. Although I stay as quiet as possible Thomas follows me to help with other things to do.

"So Miss Airi did you always work at your uncle's bar?"

"No…um I did something else too."

"Really what was it?"

"Um…I um…nothing special…really."

"Oh… what did you do for fun when you were on your break or something?"

"I would…uh…you know normal things…nothing really special."

"Oh…ok I guess. I usually feed the seagulls. They're actually pretty nice once you get to know them. maybe when we're finished working I can introduce you to them."

"O-oh…um, sure." Thomas seems a little dejected by my responses as I keep answering his questions. I know he's trying to get me to talk but the less social I am with them the safer they me be. I stop for a moment trying to think for a moment what I could say to him to make him feel better when I see the mop bucket slide on the ground a bit.

"Watch out!" I move Thomas out of the way before the bucket and water go flying into the air and landing on the other side of the deck. I stare at the ghost bucket for a moment before I fell someone grab ahold of my shoulders,

"Miss Airi did you see that?! The bucket just…just flew on it's own!"

"Y-yeah I saw…"

"How?! It's never don't that before."

"Um…maybe the wind carried it?"

"but it was full of water; and there's hardly any wind today…you don't think it was a ghost do you?"

"No…Thomas there's no such thing as ghosts…" _I'm not lying about that; Soul isn't a ghost. He's something else. _

"So then what was it?" all I'm able to manage is a shrug of my shoulders,

"Um…I'm going to go…see if anyone else needs any help." I leave the awkward silence the way it is I try to find something else to do to make myself useful. I leave Eduardo out of the choices and all Russell is doing is playing look out. There's not really much I can do to help him. The next person I think of is Nathan. He's the cook so he may need help in the kitchen. Quietly I head for the kitchen and Nathan is working on making things to eat for dinner. Closing the door behind me makes his turn to see who it is.

"What do you want?"

"um…to help. I'm mean…do you need any?"

"Not much of a talker are you?" I sort of flinch at his words. Looking down I'm at a loss for words as to what to say when a bowl of carrots, potatoes and a rather large onion is thrusted into my face. "Peal and chop those…do it over there so your not in the way." He points to the table in the mess hall.

"Y-you just want me to chop these?" I ask to make sure, but it makes his eyes narrow in annoyance,

"You complaining?"

"N-no-no sir. Ok I'll do it." with that he shoves a rather sharp knife into my face and I take it with a rather shaky hand. Sensing Soul's agitation I leave the kitchen and sit down at the table. Setting the knife down first before the bowl I take out the vegetables. Realizing I need a place to set the skins of the items in something I ask Nathan for another bowl and get started. As soon as I sit down though the knife starts floating making me go stiff.

**Soul! What are you doing?** He doesn't answer me as the knife just floats there before it floats down to me. _Is he trying to be nice?_ Carefully I take the handle and it doesn't resist. I can only imagine what he was thinking what he was wanting to do with that knife just a second ago before he handed it to me. I start with the carrots making sure to peel them carefully and chop them to Nathan's specification and move onto the potatoes. The potatoes don't take me as long as the carrots and I chop them as well. The pile of skins builds up in the other bowl as I finally move onto the onion. As soon as I begin peeling off the skin my eyes begin to water making it hard to keep them open for too long but I manage to do it. Relieved that I finally finished I reach for the knife to take it back to Nathan when it starts floating again and this time it aims for the kitchen. Immediately I take the handle and struggle to free it from Soul but he won't budge. I try to stay as quiet as I can wile I fight with him for the knife,

"Hey are you done yet?" I hear Nathan call

"Yeah, just about." **Soul…! Let it go NOW!** Again he says nothing but he suddenly releases it making me fall back landing on my butt.

"What the hell?" _Soul…why are you causing trouble?_ "What the Hell are you doing?"

"um…I…I was getting up and my feet got…tangled." I try making some sort of excuse. It feels as though he's contemplating what to do next

"You're really dorky."

"I'm sorry." I stand and hand the knife back to him quietly along with the bowl of chopped vegetables. I rub my right arm nervously out of habit every time I feel uncomfortable with something. Nathan makes me feel like I can't talk to him even if I try. He might be even quieter than me. There's a crash from the kitchen as things go flying. Glass breaks and metal clangs as the eruption of noise continues; finally it subsides and it becomes eerily quiet. Nathan checks his kitchen first with me tailing behind him. Everything is a mess. Metal utensils are scattered all over the place, what ever he was making is all over the stove and even splattered on the walls, glass is broken all over the counters and floors and even some is imbedded in the walls. Behind us more glass breaks making me flinch guessing that it was more than likely the two bowls with the skins and chopped vegetables. I can almost feel the anger coming from Nathan right now. It's even scarier that he isn't even asking me what happened like Thomas did. He heads into the kitchen and begins picking things up.

"Um…"

"Out."

"…" he looks at me over his shoulder making me tense even more.

"I've got too much ground to cover to now that this happened and I don't need you slowing me down asking questions; go find something else to do." I take the hint and leave, more angry than frantic. Finding a room that no one seems to be using at the moment I lock the door to make sure no one barges in on me before I start pacing the floor,

"You know, it was one thing since it was that jerk Eduardo but I'm getting SICK of your pranks Soul! I ask you not to cause trouble and you do the exact opposite!"

**I don't trust them…!**

"That doesn't give you the right to throw BUCKETS at THOMAS or break EVERYTHING in NATHAN'S KITCHEN!"

**You don't even want to be on this ship anyway why are you getting so pissed off?**

"Why? How about the fact that they'll think something is going wrong with their ship, or here's a good one the girl they just let into their crew is possessed! Did you ever think of that?" he says nothing as I take a deep breath, "I hope you're really happy right now with the great work you're doing…no really give yourself a round of applause great job."

**To be fair I didn't hurt any of them.**

"You know what stop…because I've just about HAD it with your over protective behavior and your smothering actions." I say through gritted teeth,

**That's my JOB what the hell do you want from me…?**

"How about two minutes of PEACE Soul! I can't even cut vegetables with out you trying to pull something…! It's bad enough that I have to walk on eggshells around them making things awkward; I don't need your help with that. In case you forgot we're trying to keep YOU hidden from them!" He doesn't respond as I pull a chair out and sit trying to hold back my tears. "Look…" I try to choose my next words carefully so that he'll understand and behave himself, "I get it ok? I know that you care about me and I get that you feel the need to protect me…but you got to understand Soul I don't like this situation any better than you. I've been thrown way out of my comfort zone right along with you. But you would make it a lot less stressful for both of us if you would just behave yourself. Just let everyone be unless one of them actually tries to hurt me, please."

Soul remains quiet but I can sense him calming down and becoming a little less on edge. He seems to finally understand but I still wait for a response,

**If either one of them so much as touches you in a way I don't like I'm not holding back. That much you need to understand.**

"What if they need to catch me or something like that, if I'm falling?"

**I still won't like it…but I won't do anything.**

With that I take a minute to calm myself and try to relax my nerves. But not being able to stay in the room for much longer I brace myself for what may come next and leave the room. Trying to find something else to do I run into Eduardo…literally. He already doesn't really like me but the fact I've run into him with nothing to do is just going to make this even worse. He glares at me figuring out I haven't been doing anything.

"Have you found some way to make yourself useful yet?" he asks me knowingly,

"I um…I tried helping Thomas b-but um…t-that didn't work out so well…" I start rubbing my arm nervously. "S-so I tried helping Nathan…b-but he um threw me out."

"So you still haven't found a way to be useful is what I'm hearing. You must really want me to feed you to the sharks." He says smugly.

"I…I can be useful…" I say weakly as I feel all the tension a various things weighing down on me even more…he walks past me.

"Then just shut up and do it."

_This is going to be harder than I thought…_

Trying to shake off what just happened I try to find some other way to be useful.

…

I've been so worried about what Soul was doing today along with finding a way to work out my own position on the ship that I completely forgot about the fact I have to share a room with Christopher. Now my nerves are shot I can't take it anymore. I managed to find other small tasks to keep me busy but how do I get out of this situation. I've never slept in the same room with a guy before let alone talk to one properly. _I don't know what to do? I think I'd rather sleep outside if it's this nerve racking…what if he tries something? I'm mean he seems nice but I don't know what he would do with me alone. That just could have been a front. What do I do?_

"Airi?" I jump at my name. When I turn it's Christopher. "Are you alright?" I nod. "What are you doing out here? You should get some sleep so you can be rested up for tomorrow."

"um…" reflexively I rub my arm again; yet that seems to make him worry. Come walks over and places a hand on my forehead, "Um…!"

"Do you feel sick? Or is it your arm?"

"N-no…" he stares at me still concerned. Then for some reason he laughs as if he finally realized something, "What…?"

"Heehee…I guess you would be nervous sharing a room with a complete stranger wouldn't you?" I can't help but look away.

"…sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. I understand. I promise I'm not going to do anything weird."

**If he does he's dead…**

**I don't think you have to worry about that Soul…**

I nod understanding and trusting him to keep his promise.

"Were you always this quiet back in Yamato too?" he jokes

"Um…I always…had to keep to myself actually so….so I don't really know how to talk al that much to people in general."

"I guess that would make sense but why would you try to stay away from them?" he looks worried again. Unable to actually give an answer I stay quiet. "Sorry was that too personal of a question?"

"No I just can't answer it. sorry."

"Oh! Right before I forget, I had been meaning to tell you that you don't have to worry about your uncle so much anymore."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Junpei seems to have been replaced by someone else."

"What do you mean? He was replaced but that's impossible no one has gotten any reports from him in ages; he's kept us cut off from others. How did he…?"

"We're not the average group of pirates, we help the innocent."

"Wait then what did you guys…"

"That's our secret; you don't have to worry. Junpei won't be bothering anyone anymore." Some of the tension I felt leaves and I don't have to worry about my uncle so much anymore.

"Thank you." His smile brightens even more if that's even possible.

"I think that's the first time you've smiled since coming here. Good girl." He pats me head "You need to smile; it will make you feel better in an instant when you feel down. besides you look better smiling Airi." I know I need to stay at a distance but talking to him is so easy.

"I'll…try."

"Good." He suggest that we go to bed and offers to take the floor so I can have the bed.

"W-wait but that's your bed! I'm already imposing enough as it is I can't anymore!"

"You're not imposing at all Airi beside I can't make a girl take the floor."

"B-but-!"

"You're taking the bed Airi; no more protesting ok?" he smiles but I somehow can tell he won't budge and I have to give up. As I get ready for bed pulling my head back I start thinking about what I can do that will make me useful. I messed up with both Thomas and Nathan in the kitchen. Russell does his own thing and Eduardo scares me, and I'm not even sure if captain Morgan does that much of anything other than drink. _I can't think of anything…that means I'm going to be shark bait!_

"Airi what's the matter?"

"Eduardo's going to kill me…"

"Why do you say that?" he asks a bit suspicious

"He wouldn't leave me alone about finding something to do, and…he said that if I didn't find a way to be useful he was going to feed me to the sharks." Christopher sighs, "I…tried helping Thomas but I messed up there…and I even tried to help Nathan too but that didn't go very well either. I can't even think of what I could do now…" again he sighs making me think he's getting annoyed with me but,

"Listen Airi, you should take that seriously. Eduardo is just messing with you? He likes twisting people's arms and watching them…panic like you're doing. But he isn't going to actually do that. Although I think telling you he's going to throw you to the sharks is a bit much…he won't actually do it."

"So…he's just a big bully?"

"Pretty much. He picks on Thomas and Russell all the time and gets under their skin too. Although I'll have to talk to him about that; and if he really is so intent on being such a bully about you not having a job on the ship, why don't you help me."

"Help…?"

"Yep, I have a lot of work to do on the ship since I'm the doctor. I could use some help. So how about it do you want to help me?"

"um…I'm not sure I would be much help…I'm not that fast of a learner…it takes me a minute to catch on."

"That's alright…in order to learn something and be good at it takes time and practice and I'll help you as well." _Well when he puts it like that I guess it should be ok._ I look up and smile

"Yeah ok…"

"Good." He pets my head again, "now we should go to sleep ok. We usually have an early start here."

"ok."

…

In the dark room I still find it hard to sleep since I'm not used to the new surroundings. Christopher even though he was sleeping on the floor fell asleep so quickly I was really surprised.

**You seem to be somewhat relieved.**

**I guess I am…they really are different from other pirates that were at the bar.**

**That's just from first impressions. You can't trust them that quickly.**

**Paranoid…as usual. **

**But…I have to say…they aren't as dangerous as what I thought they would be. They do seem different..**

**Wait are you having a change of heart about them? **

**Hmpf…don't make me laugh. It will take more than just kind gestures for me to trust them…even the doctor. But at least I can trust them enough to not have to kill them instantly when they enter a room. **

**Well…I guess that's a start…please try to remember what we talked about though ok?**

**mmm…**

**Goodnight Soul…**

**Sleep well Airi.**

Please review and give feedback on what you think please. ^^


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok apparently fanfiction can't tell when my documents have things both underlined and in bold so from now on when Airi talks to Soul in her head it will be in bold and have quotes around it so yeah here's the next part.**

Choosing to… 

Things go smoothly for the next couple of days and I start to find my own place on the ship. I help Christopher mostly but still help out with cleaning. More importantly Soul seems to have calmed down around them a bit as well. He still doesn't like them but he seems to have gotten used to them and trusts them enough for me to be around them. Although that is the case I keep trying to leave myself at a distance from all of them. Even so Christopher continues to try to talk to me as much as possible. I think he may have some idea that I'm a bit awkward around other people and may be trying to help me with that. I have to admit that it's a bit hard to not talk to him when he does talk to me. He's been really patient with me helping him in the infirmary. I seem to be making progress in getting things down. Today will make about two weeks since I've been on the Sirius as I help Christopher again. for now while he's handling other things he's left me to figure out how to organize his collection of dried herbs.

_He's wanting to rearrange the herbs he has in these jars so they're easier to pick out and place back…so would putting them in alphabetical order work? …no maybe if it was something easier but they have different uses too. Plus the names are too complicated to memorize by heart. He needs to be able to look at the label and know right off what he needs to use. Let's see he has…4…8 different shelves all decently sized that can fit all of them. Different uses…different herbs means different uses for maybe…_

"How's it coming Airi?" Christopher comes to check on me.

"Um…I think I figured out how to rearrange them. What if we organize them by use."

"Use?"

"Yeah…each herb is used for a specific purpose right…like some are used for burns and others poisons…I know theirs a limited amount of space but I thought maybe we could at lease organize them into general categories for uses."

"I see what you're saying…that's a good idea." He pats my head again. He treats me kind of like a little sister sort of I guess it's fine though. It's just that sometimes he says things that could make me blush and I try not to let it get to me and then he teases me only making me red in the face. Soul just finds it annoying but since it makes me laugh rather than cry he leaves it alone although he's asked me why quite a few times. "You were really thinking about it weren't you?"

"Huh?"

"You were standing here with a blank expression on your face but your eyes looked as though you were deep in thought. It looked as though you were trying to put yourself in a trance." I try imagining it ad reflexively rub my arm turning red even more,

"Did I look that weird?"

"No not weird, it was very cute." _Cute?_ He pats my head again, "it was like you were trying to solve the hardest problem in the world."

"S-Stop teasing me…please."

"Heehee, sorry. Alright lets get started." We first decide on what to label each shelf. I try naming some uses for herbs that I know and he makes the final decision as to what to name them. As I take down the jars I mutter to myself what they are as if to quiz myself on them. Christopher can seem to make out a few of them that I name off and corrects me when he does if it's wrong. I somehow find some sort of enjoyment, maybe it's because instead of promoting pain…it's something that helps people. _Actually, it's not just us…everyone's been really busy today. I haven't even really had time to go help Thomas with the laundry like I usually do._

"H-hey um…why is everyone so busy today? Nathan especially."

"Hm?"

"um…well he's been in the kitchen all day from what I can tell."

"Oh that's right. There's a full moon out tonight." _Full moon?_ "This will be your first time but it's something we do every time there's a full moon. We have a party and just have fun. But I'm sure it will be a bit more exciting this time because it's the first time you'll be there."

"Why…do you say that?"

"Captain may want to make it into a welcome party for you." My body freezes on that comment. _If he does that…it would be kind of hard to stay away. I would have to stay at the party and put every one in danger… I hope that's not the case. _"Airi?"

"He…doesn't have to do that…I'm not…I'm not anything special." I say continuing what I was doing.

"Hey now…Airi what kind of talk is that? That's not true." I don't respond just continue taking down jars of herbs with a wall up to keep others away. "Airi…" _I'm sorry Christopher…but I can't get close to you or anyone else…it's for your own good. Please just stay away…_

...

"Aright here's to welcoming Airi to the Sirius pirates!" on Captain Morgan's command everyone starts to get really rowdy. The captain seems to be drinking the most. Although there's a lot of food and it's all good I don't try to keep up with every one else. Nathan even went through the trouble of making some good Yamato food and I waste no time in eating all that I can of it. The alcohol seems to make Thomas really loopy, he's all red in the face and Russell wastes no time in fighting over meat with Eduardo. They actually look as though they'll start a fight over it any minute. I don't get why since there's plenty for everyone to have third helpings easily. Christopher is a bit tone deaf as he tries to sing what is supposed to be the Sirius anthem I think from what I understand. Of course captain and Thomas join him and don't seem to mind that he's off. Even though it's loud and I'm not used to the whole thing it's nice to watch how they interact with each other and puts a smile on my face. Soul seems to sense it and relaxes himself enjoying the atmosphere for the time being, not bothered by any of their antics.

"Here miss Airi try this." Thomas wobbles over and holds a cup of something that I'm sure is liquor out to me.

"N-no thanks um…I don't drink Thomas."

"Oh come on it's really good."

"Thomas leave her alone; she says she doesn't want it." Christopher saves me taking the cup from him and having him sit down. "Why don't you eat something to help you get your head back." Quietly but still red faced Thomas does as told and eats some food. I take a sip of my water and try to stay as quiet as possible.

"You don't drink, you're quieter than even a mouse and you hardly have any social skills what so ever…don't you do anything?" Eduardo asks with a smug look on his face.

"Um…I read mostly…"

"Read?" Russell repeats and I nod looking at my cup.

"Yes… I would mostly read back in Yamato when I wasn't helping at the bar or something else."

"You really are dorky…" I flinch at Nathan's words slightly. "Didn't you say that job at the bar was to help cover your taxes or something? You did something else right?"

"Um…well…yes I did… I was an artist too."

"You made sculptures? Haha how much would it cost me to get you to make a statue of me?" Morgan asks.

"Um…well yes I did but rarely…I did more sketches and paintings… and even when I did a sculpture it was small ones…the large scale ones take too long."

"What would you make?" Christopher asks really interested. It's probably more because I'm actually talking right now. I shrug my shoulders.

"Just…things that people requested…some wanted a painting of flowers, others wanted other things…I would sell them for decent prices but when the taxes were raised I had to help my uncle at the bar…"

"Were you always such a recluse back then too?"

"Stop Eduardo." Christopher says

"What doc? I'm just having a little bit of fun." _He likes seeing people suffer doesn't he…_ "I have to say though; you're the first person that I've ever seen so shut off from others. It's almost like you want to be alone."

"Actually now that you mention it Eduardo, you're right. You act as if you don't want to have anything to do with others." my body tenses at their words; Soul starts to take a big interest in the conversation now as well watching the all cautiously.

"I-it's not…I mean…"

"So what's the deal? Why do you keep trying to distance yourself from us?" Russell asks pointedly.

"Come one you guys stop ganging up on her." Christopher says sternly.

"Come on Doc, you can't say that you're not interested. You've noticed too right?" Eduardo points out.

"That doesn't give you free range to interrogate her though."

I try to come up with some sort of excuse to give them as to explain my behavior. All the while I become more uncomfortable with the situation as the argument continues. Soul starts to become more agitated as his fuse starts growing short. The situation is going to become more dangerous than just mean words being said if I don't do something soon.

"Hey, come on guys we're supposed to be having fun. Stop fighting."

"Stay out Thomas!" both Russell and Eduardo snap at him.

"Don't start taking your frustration out on him now. Honestly you two can be-" I stand getting everyone's attention. I bow silently and head of to a different part of the ship hoping to defuse the argument with me gone.

…

_I hope that they'll stop fighting now that I'm gone._

I think as I stare out at the black colored sea. I guess I understand why they wanted to know more. Even when they just have a regular conversation I just stay quiet and listen or wander off somewhere else and when I do talk I give some sort of vague answer. I guess I make it seem like I don't want to get close to them. But it's not for the reasons they think; but it still makes me feel bad. I can't let myself get close to them...if Soul loses his temper and hurts them…there's no telling what would happen. But…

_Am I just using that as an excuse? I've gotten so used to trying to be on my own that I've found it more comfortable to be away from people. And with my past…maybe I just feel safer with it just being myself and Soul…_

"Is it more that…I'm afraid?"

"Airi…" I see Christopher standing behind me. _Did he just hear me? I'm sure he did; the look on his face says so at the very least. _

I can hear the party is still going on with how much loud laughter going on.

"You've been over here for a long time."

"I…lost track of the time…sorry." He comes and stands next to me. He seems to be waiting for me to say something as he stays quiet but all I do is watch the ocean. It's quiet for a long time and still nothing is said until,

"I don't think anyone could beat you in a silence contest."

"Huh?"

"You don't seem to realize that you can be too quiet. I think that may be why the others think you're trying to stay away from them. But I get the feeling that it's something else." I don't respond. "It's not that you don't want to be around people it's that you're trying to protect yourself from them. What is it?"

**Nosey…**

Ignoring Soul I think carefully about what I want to say. It's hard not to tell him everything when he's trying so hard to be friendly.

"I…I've always tried to go unnoticed ever since I can remember…being out here let alone away from Yamato…it's put me way outside my comfort zone…I've always tried to avoid people and…and now I'm forced to so suddenly."

"I can see how you would feel but no one on this ship is going to hurt you. True there are going to be some people that aren't of the best character but most people out there are nice once you get to notice them. not all of them are going to try to hurt you."

"It's not just them trying to hurt me…I stay away from people… so that they don't end up getting hurt."

"I don't understand." I turn to face him and look him straight in the eye,

"It's not something that you or anyone can or even wants to understand…it's not even something that anyone can help me with. The only thing I can do is stay away from others around me so they don't get hurt." he seems to realize something as he stares back at me,

"What is it Airi?" he places his hands on my shoulders gently, "What are you hiding?" the words start to form in the back of my throat as I'm about to say it, yet the words only get stuck and I can't form them. Instead I shake my head no.

"It's better that you don't know Christopher. You're safer that way." I look down at the floor, "if anything…you should have just sent me adrift in the life boat; you all would have been safer that way." Christopher pulls me close to him making me tense. His hug is warm and comforting making me forget for the moment as I stand there; the corner of my eyes sting a bit as I try to hold back my tears. Christopher pulls away from me as he still holds onto my shoulders,

"Don't ever say anything like that about yourself again. Even if you can't say what it is that doesn't mean anything bad about you." He pets my head, "You're life is just as precious as anyone else's." _you have no idea._ I smile at him trying to let him know I'm fine.

…

Darkness creeps all around me as the sounds all around me begin to whisper in my mind. Terrible…inhuman sounds, but they're all mixed up, jumbled together. Images flash by so quickly I can hardly make them out. They aren't human, that's all I'm able to make out. The sounds disappear and reappear along with the images. flashing…teeth, bloody stained walls…fires, growling shrieks of inhuman deaths, then everything goes quiet. Then an image of something so horrible, so frightening words can't even describe it.

_SOUL!_

"Airi!"

_Help! I don't want to be here! SOUL! SOOOOUUULLLLL!_

"Airi Wake up! It's me!" someone shakes me awake and my eyes snap open and I see someone familiar in front of me, "Airi! It's me…! It's Christopher…"

"C-Christopher…!" again it happened again. The nightmares…

"It's alright. Just calm down."

"I- I don't like it!" I say hysterically, "The monsters- it's so scary I can't. I can't get away! I… I…"

"it's alright…it was just a dream."

"No, No it wasn't a dream! They're real, They'll come- they'll come here! They'll…" I hide my face in my hands, "Soul…help me Soul…!"

**You have to calm down…please Airi…I can't do anything for you like this…I don't know what to do when you cry…**

"Soul…Soul…" even though I know he can't I continue to say his name over and over. Suddenly I'm wrapped in warmth as someone holds me close but all I'm able to see is their arm I can't make out who it is.

"It's ok Airi…" comes Christopher's gentle voice. "It's ok…" still shaking I silently cry in his arms.

I wake up in bed alone and find no trace of Christopher. My eyes feel slightly puffy making me feel like I want to go back to sleep but I force myself to sit up. Rubbing my head I take a deep breath,

"Soul I hate your memories…why do you I always have to see them."

**It's not my fault… if you want to blame anything blame our connection. You subconsciously pull those memories into your own head. **

"What does it all even mean? I can never make out what's going on and they always scare me to death."

**Even I can't answer that remember? They're all just fragments of my life even I can't make out what they are. **Every time this happens we go through this, neither of us can make out what those things are in his memories. All that we can ever make out is that it's nothing but scary.

"Where are the others?"

**Apparently out and about. That doctor guy said he wanted to let you sleep in and recover before they all went out.**

"Out? But we're out at sea."

**One-eye docked the ship at a port earlier this morning.**

"You mean Eduardo? …so we're at a port."

**He said he would be back to check up on you later that Christopher guy. **I suddenly remember what happened the night before.

"What happened last night? I mean after I woke up. Was I screaming really loudly?"

**At first…yes but he seemed to be able to calm you down. I think he may have the wrong idea though. **

"What do you mean?"

**I don't really know how to explain it but I think he may be thinking something else that what actually is going on. I wouldn't be too surprised if he asked you questions.**

_That's all I need is more questions and I can't give him any answers to his questions. _I leave it alone to worry about it later and go to get changed. Once I do that I head to the deck. Just like Soul said I can't find anyone and I can only assume they're all in the busy looking town next to me. I can't help but wonder what port this is. Thinking about that I haven't been off of the island back in Yamato and rub my arm uncomfortably. Not sure if I should leave the ship just yet I try finding things to do on the ship but it looks as though Thomas took care of everything before leaving. By this point I'm completely clueless as to what to do.

"Airi you're up." Christopher smiles as if nothing ever happened. "I was just coming to see if you wanted to go into town."

"Um…I've never…been to a different port."

"well it's not that different than a town it's just in a different place. I have to do some shopping so I thought maybe you would like to get off the ship."

"um…" I hesitate for a moment, "O-ok." I follow behind him sticking as close as possible. Obviously we head to an apothecary for him to shop for what he needs but he first stops to trade treasure for money. While he does that I look around curiously seeing a flower stand. I'm too unsure to go off and look at them and look around some more. I feel something being placed in my hair and try to see what it is. I feel a flower and realize what just happened.

"**Soul! No that's stealing!"**

**what? It's just one flower she won't miss it.**

"**But Christopher will see it. He'll wonder where I got it from and with no money on me! You need to put it back!" **

**Fine…**

He seems disappointed as the flower floats out of my hair,

**I appreciate it though Soul.**

**Mh-hm…**

As I still search there's a very unusual stand that looks like it belongs to a fortuneteller.

**What do you see?**

"**I don't know." **I take a few steps before looking back at Christopher still talking and trading off treasure before looking forward.

**You going over there?**

"**I'll…just be a minute and take a look…and be right back. Besides I'm still in plain sight he can find me."**

Although I'm trying to convince myself more than Soul. I head over to the stand and find a woman hooded in a deep purple, silk like robe her face is painted in markings and makeup making her look unusually pretty. Her jewelry jangles and jingles as she moves. She seems to be a bit old judging from the bags under her eyes. Incense wafts through the air allowing for me to smell lavender and vanilla. In front of her is an empty table with a intricate cover decorating it. She looks up at me. Her eyes slightly widen.

"You… you I can sense something different about you." My body tenses. She's a seer. Seers are people with unique abilities. Some can sense things others can move things with their minds some even claim to be able to see into the future while there are those who can create illusions by thinking it. Seers are called that because they can see things, see the world in a different light. People say seers can see a completely different world than normal people; depending on the person their gift can either be a blessing or a curse. One absolute way to make certain a person is a seer are the markings on their bodies, they're the birthmarks of the seers. She lifts a hand up beckoning me, "There is something different about you. Yes but what is this…the vibrations are so different yet so in sync it's hard to say. You are bound by something aren't you? Come…let me take a better look at you. Let me see what makes you so special."

"Um…I…"

"You seem so troubled child come…tell me what troubles you I'm sure I'll be able to help you." There are some seers that use their abilities for good but then there are some you should stay away from. She may be genuine but I still don't know if I should go over to her. "Come now there's no need to-" she stops talking as her eyes start go glow blue along with the marks on her face. I take a step forward looking at her closely. Soon the glowing stops and she takes hold of my arm. "You have a choice to make: Keep your secret or save your friend. You must decide for yourself."

"What…what are you talking about?"

"I'm Afraid that is all I can say. Telling too much of someone's future can cause trouble."

"Airi." I turn around as the woman lets me go and see Christopher standing there. "I'm finished trading for money so now we can head off to the apothecary."

"O-oh…ok." I bow to the woman before following him away from her; I can't help but look back at the woman as she stares at me with knowing.

I look at all the different little mixtures in the store as Christopher gets what he needs. Seeing as how I've never been to a different place before I find everything to be very interesting. Soul seems to betaking a bit of an interest as well looking at everything and asking me questions as well. Something unusual for this kind of store is that there is a small section of jewelry but there's something unusual about them. There are different plants encased in the glass part almost as if they're preserved by the glass. There's one of an unusually colored leaf; it's blue. But it looks so pretty I can't take my eyes off it. But I have no money.

"Heehee, do you see one that you like?" he was so quiet it didn't even notice him watching and he makes me jump a bit.

What kind of plant is it from?"

"That blue one you were looking it is from a Nightlily."

"Night…lily?"

"The flower itself is more for looking at but the leaves re good for use against infection."

"But why put it in glass then?"

"Well you were looking at them just now as if you couldn't help but like them right?"

"Wh-what? I was staring at them like that? Wh-what but why didn't you say anything?"

"Your eyes were so big and you looked like you were enjoying yourself, I didn't want to interrupt you."

"How long were you watching…?" I ask feeling my cheeks get hot and I rub my arm.

"Not that long, it was…this one right?" _huh? Why is he taking the necklace off there? Wait!_

"C-Christopher you're not going to buy that are you?"

"It's fine; you like it right?"

"B-but you can't spend your money on it!"

"It's fine just think of it as a welcome present from me." _that sort of makes it even worse…but I don't think he's going to give up on it._ I bow to him,

"Thank you…"

"Hey you don't have to do that, besides it's something I want to do alright you don't have to pay me back for it alright?" he pays for his items and my new necklace and I put it on. We head back to the ship to put away the items he bought before we head back out. "it's getting late are you hungry?" _Actually I haven't really eaten anything all day long…_

I nod answering his question.

"We're supposed to meet with the others right now so I'm sure we'll be getting something to eat then. Can you hold out until then?" I nod staying quiet, thinking about what could happen. "Alright then come on."

**Why does he treat you like a child?**

"**Not a child more like a sister if you ask me."**

**Same thing…doesn't that annoy you?**

"**Not really…"**

**You're lost in your thoughts right now…what are you thinking?**

"**The seer"**

**What she said bothered you? **

"**She said I would…have to make a choice whether or not if I should save a friend of reveal my secret. My secret can only mean you but…who was she talking about that I would have to save?"**

**Don't know you're not exactly friends with anyone…not even Christopher. For you know she could have just made that up to rile you up. there people that fake being a seer right?**

"**yes…but she wasn't faking. She was the real thing."**

"Airi, you alright?" I look up at Christopher, "You've gotten really quiet…well quieter." Still half paying attention to Soul trying to carry on a conversation with me I nod. "Actually…Airi, do you mind if we go somewhere else first before we meet up with the others." again all I do is shake my head no. "Alright then lets go this way."

…

The place Christopher takes me to looks like a teashop but I'm not sure as to why he's brought me here. The sign itself reminds me of Yamato as it reads Sakura: Teashop and Sweets. _I wonder why here?_ Inside the atmosphere reminds me of home. The severs and waiters are all dressed up in yukatas and a few people in a corner play instruments making it feel like home again. A waitress comes and seats us then hands us both a menu. _Dorayaki, Dango, manju…they have all these different sweets! Peach tea, lavender tea, vanilla and lemon…wow who came up with all these teas. Oh wait that's…!_

"Macha…" I say in a whisper. Looking u can see Christopher struggling in choosing something. "Macha tea is really good…"

"Is it…Alright then…what about to each with it?" _Hm…There's dorayaki but if we get macha tea then it may not be the best dango's good for festivals but not for just tea like this…wow there's so many different kinds which one should I get…oh I know!_ Smiling I look up at him,

"Manju is really good. Manju, we should get Manju."

"Heehee, alright." My eye catches another sweet that I haven't had in a long time and seeing the name makes me want to remember the sweet taste. "They also have…Konpeito."

"Hm…Konpeito, what's that?"

"It's sugar candies…they're kind of in the shape of stars… I haven't had them for a long time. Oh! They have green tea ice cream too! Wow…" after looking for a long time on the list of sweets I decide to get Macha and green tea ice cream. I waste no time in taking a bite of it and the cold, sweet taste fills my mouth. The hot tea helps to warm me up after eating the ice cream. As I enjoy the food I can't help but think in the back of my mind about what that seer said. Although I try not to let it bother me but every time it seems to still come back to haunt me. With my ice cream gone quickly I try to slowly enjoy my tea. The atmosphere helps to put my mind at ease as I listen to the music played in the background.

"Say, Airi?" I stop mid way from taking a sip of my tea, "That seer today what did she say to you?" I take the cup away from my lips remembering her words.

"N-nothing important." I try to brush it off. He looks as though he doesn't believe my answer and I look away.

"Last night…you seem to be having some very vivid dreams." My body flinches slightly. Soul told me he may start asking questions. "I know you don't want to talk about it but…it may help you. I'm willing to listen if you want to talk about it." my chest tightens at the chance. Being able to tell someone about this stuff even just about the dreams alone would be enough to help. But then what if things go wrong? There's no definite way of saying that he wouldn't think I was crazy. I bite my lower lip still debating about it.

"**Soul, what should I do?"**

**I wouldn't even begin to know how to answer that. There's no way that he won't be like everyone else in the past. Who's to say that he won't turn on you like they all did…betray your trust…our trust. It was one of the main reasons why you decided to live on your own besides me. **

"**Yeah…"**

**However… he hasn't given you any reason to not trust him. He's actually been trying to slowly help you come out of hiding. He may have the wrong idea about you but I can honestly say that he genuinely wants to help you.**

"Airi." I look back up at Christopher, "There's no reason to hide things from me or anyone on the Sirius. We look out for each other." I look back on the events that happened since getting on the Sirius, how everyone gets along…how each of them in their own weird way tried to get me to open up and I just shoved it back in their face…how this person right in front of me has been looking out for me ever since I came on board. Even when he didn't know me he stood up for me against Eduardo and the others to send me away…it's like my walls, the wall I built up all these years are slowly crumbling. The lump in the back of my throat loosens and slowly melts away as my clenching jaw relaxes and my lips begin to spell out words.

"If…if I told you something, something completely unbelievable…something that shouldn't even be real….would you believe me?" I look at him straight in the eye. "If I told you something that you believed wasn't possible is possible…would you believe me?" he opens his mouth to answer when there's a crash from the front door. Moldor navy soldiers rush in and point their guns.

"All of you don't move!" one shouts

"What in the world is going on?"

"What's the meaning of this? We've done nothing wrong!" as one of the servers steps forward to talk to the navy only to meet with a bullet. Some girls let off shrieks as I cover my ears from the sound and flinch. Christopher pulls on my arm and pulls me over to his side to hide us both in the booth out of their immediate sight.

"Stay down." he commands and I listen. Closing my eyes I sync my mind with Soul,

"**Show me what happened Soul"**

from up high I see the waitress that was serving us trying to apply pressure to a terrible wound on the man's shoulder.

"This port and all of it's citizens are now under the jurisdiction of the Moldor Navy. If any of you try anything you will be shot on sight!"

"What do you mean?! We haven't done anything. Why is the Navy doing this?"

"Stop asking questions and shut up! The first order of business that you need to take care of is handing over the money to pay for your new taxes."

"Taxes? What taxes?"

my mind suddenly jumps back into my body,

"Are you listening to me?" Christopher asks me as he shakes my shoulder,

"What?"

"I said they're most likely not Navy soldiers; they're fakes."

"Why do you say that?"

"They look a little unkempt to be soldiers, most likely their a bunch of bandits that are trying to pose as the navy and use it to their advantage. And if that's the case we can probably assume that the others are running into the same problem. Sometimes bandits try to take over towns like this and keep it under their control."

"So what do we do?"

"You stay put; I'll take care of it." before he can do anything though someone comes up behind him and hits him over the head with a gun stunning him. the fake pulls him out of the seat and over to the others in the group.

"N-no Christopher!" I try to run over to him to make sure he's ok but the fake grabs hold of my arm holding me back.

"Well what's this some cute little flower?"

"Let me go you sleeze ball!" I shout as I try to get away.

"No that's not nice! Bad girls like you need to be punished!" he slaps me across my face and I go down. I have no time to register anything when he grabs hold of my hair and pulls me up and places me over his shoulder. "Make sure you keep them here. They try anything shoot them." _H-he's going to rape me! _I look at Christopher trying to get up. The words of the seer replay in my head. _Christopher will definitely try something…they'll kill him. There's no way they'll let him go free…I choose…_

"**Soul…go…" **I hear no answer but can sense him on the move. Not but a moment later as the man heads up the stairs carrying me the stairs in front of him shatter and slinter. He steps backwards and then falls backwards losing his balance. I brace myself as I hit the ground.

"W-what the hell was that?!" one asks. Looking over at Christopher he stares at the stairs wide eyed. _I've made the choice…I can't go back._ With them in a daze I head over to him and make sure he's ok before h hear the click of an armed gun.

"What the hell did you do girl? What was that?' the one who tried to take me asks. I don't answer only hold onto Christopher's arm,

"No matter what happens don't leave my side." I whisper to him.

"I'm asking you what-" before he can finish a kitchen knife flashes by and cuts through his chest landing in the wall on the other side. At first he doesn't realize what hit him before his Soul finishes him of tearing his head clean off. Blood gushes out of the top while the body goes down. I can feel Christopher tense up as he watches the sight. A girl screams as the others start running, along with the other imposters.

"H-holy-what what is that?!"

"Call for back up! Get the others here!" everyone leaves except for the two of us.

I look over at Christopher; his eyes haven't left the corpse yet and I'm afraid to even try and get his attention.

"Airi…" He's so quiet I can barely make out my name, "What was that just now?" he looks over at me for an answer but hearing other fakes coming makes it so that I can't answer him, I look him in the eye,

"I promise I'll explain everything once we're safe…but right now we have to get out of here before more of them come." He seems to snap out of his daze and comes back to his senses before standing. He takes hold of my hand,

"Alright…after we're safe." I nod. "Let's go." We make a run for it out of the tea shop and no sooner had we done that a whole pack of imposters are on our tails. Christopher tries to take us through dark allies in order to lose them and even around sharp corners. But once we lose one group we're being chased by another. I can see we've made it to a cliff like part of the town that seems to overlook a big forest. Soon we start running out of places to run and I only see that to be the only way out. A few of the soldiers aim their guns at us

"Soul…!" as the guns fire the bullets bounce off of an invisible force leaving us unscathed. I pull on Christopher's arm heading over to the cliff,

"What are you doing Airi?! There's nowhere else to go!"

"You're going to have to trust me! JUMP!" we both jump off the cliff as the ground leaves our fee. "SOUL! DO IT NOW!" the landscape beneath us becomes distorted along with around us as we fall into the forest being protected by Soul's power. All the while I know we'll make it… all the while one thought keeps replaying in the back of my mind.

_How do I even begin to explain this to Christopher?_


	4. Chapter 4

The Bond

We landed safely in a lake and thankfully it was deep enough for us. Once we reach the shore I collapse on my back and try to catch my breath. Christopher sits hunched over catching his breath along with me.

"You ok…?" I ask him.

"Ask me again once my heart calms down." he says half joking, "I'm fine all things considered…how did we make that?" he looks up at the high cliff we just descended from. "We should be dead."

"If it wasn't for Soul…we would be…"

"Soul?" I realize what I just said and look away,

"Soul is…" I bite my lower lip

"We can talk about it later."

"What?"

"Right now we need to get back up there and make sure the others are ok." _He's right about that we can talk about it later._

We head back and find that all the imposters are all tied up thanks to the others and no one seems to be hurt. Christopher worried about the man shot back in the teashop heads back to make sure he's alright. I follow him but only to the entrance of the shop. I explain to him how it might be better that I don't show my face after what just took place in there so I wait for him outside. All the while I try to see what he's thinking by his expression. I can't really tell what he's thinking. I can't tell if he's scared of me, shocked unsure of what I am, who I am. I went from the shy, quiet girl to something else entirely. After a while Christopher comes back out of the shop. I straighten up,

"H-how is he?"

"it was a flesh wound so he should be fine after some time passes. The bullet went clean through so…"

"That's good…" I rub my arm again but force myself to stop and look at him, "I know I promised to tell you what happened back there…but can we wait until we're at least back in our room…alone. I…I don't want anyone else listening." He places a hand on my shoulder and nods.

For the time being Christopher and I act as if nothing even happened. Although I keep thinking about the conversation that will eventually happen I try to act normal. we find rooms for the night and again I have to share a room with Christopher everyone seems to be pretty tired so they all retire to their rooms and so do we. No one seemed to think anything was off as we tried to act normal. It almost feels as though nothing even happened; that it's all normal again. Once in our own room though I can feel things become tense again. Moonlight comes in through the window helping me to find a place to sit on the bed. He lights a lantern giving the room more light. The shadows dance on the walls as I watch them thinking of a way to even start explaining. His footsteps seem to echo in the room as Christopher comes and sits down next to me. The silence between us is completely unbearable as my mind continues to buzz. I've never trusted anyone enough to tell them about Soul my whole entire life has been me trying to keep him secret from others. and now here I am about to tell that secret and I don't even know where to even start or even how. My heartbeat quickens as I try to focus.

"You don't have to rush yourself." I look at him, "All I ask is that you just tell me the truth." I nod and take a deep breath. _I had every intention of telling him the truth I just need to start with the beginning._

"Do you remember when I was screaming that one night how I was calling for someone?"

"Yes. I think it was the same name as the one you used just a little while ago too." I nod.

"Soul…his name is Soul. For as long as I can remember Soul has been with me every day, through every storm, through good and bad…he's always been there."

"ever since you were born?"

"Most likely…my earliest memories of him are of when I was about three…four years old."

"You're not a seer otherwise you would have the same marks as them right?"

"As far as I can tell no…it's all Soul." I watch as he looks around and I find myself smiling slightly, "if you're wondering if he's here in this room right now, he is and no he's not a ghost."

"Heh…was it that obvious what I was thinking?" I nod, "so then…what is he?" I take a deep breath thinking of how to answer that.

"To be honest neither of us know for sure what he is… his memories are almost all gone; and the ones that are there are just random fragments of his life. The best way he was able to explain it to me was that…he's a form of chaotic energy…able to do all these unusual things…and his mind his entire being has somehow merged with this mass of energy. But no one can see him. Not even me."

"You can't see him yourself?" I shake my head. "I don't understand then how is it that you know he's there?"

" I can feel him." I look him straight in the eye, "Soul it bound to me; it's like a symbiotic bond between us. We're connected so much to the point that he survives on that bond."

"Wait a symbiotic bond does it hurt you in any way?"

"No…" I take a minute to collect my thoughts trying to explain this bond, "Soul can't survive with out this bond."

"So…he benefits from it because you keep him alive."

"It's a bit deeper than that…his life energy is so intertwined with mine that if somehow the bond between us were to be severed he would die."

"And you?"

"Nothing would happen to me if he were to die alone but if I were to die…"

"He would as well…" I becomes silent while I let him think for a moment I'm sure he still has many questions, "is there…is there a way to break this bond between you?"

"No…the bond between us is so strong that it's nearly unbreakable. But he doesn't hurt me with this bond I'm not harmed by it. but because of it I can always sense his presence…he's always with me…" minutes pass again before either of us speak. I'm not sure how he's taking this but his reaction so far is better than what I though it would be. I'm still not sure I'm explaining I well enough though.

"is he the reason you feel the need to distance yourself from everyone?" Christopher finally asks. "He's the one who…killed that person before right." The question makes my heart pang with regret, "I'm sorry if that sounded harsh-"

"It's fine…that's exactly what Soul did…does when people try to hurt me." I can sense Soul's emotions as they shift to being conflicted. I can tell he doesn't like where this is going. "I'm going to have to explain it to him…"

**So long as he understands…I don't care what he thinks of me…**

"Well, you should, this is about you too."

**I told you I don't trust them…**

"You also said he hasn't given you any reason not to."

**Stop using my words against me…!**

"Then stop being so stubborn and maybe I will."

"You have conversations with him?" I turn to Christopher remembering that he's here as well. _That's right he can't hear Soul._

"Um…sorry I forgot I was talking…um I am the only one who can hear to Soul so yes I have conversations with him. Because I always kept to myself he was the only one that I could talk to so he and I grew close…he's like an over protective brother in some sense of the phrase…"

"Some sense…?"

"This is where… what happened comes into play."

"You mean him killing that man." a pillow hits him on the back of the head making Christopher jump up from the bed.

"Soul…! Stop…!" I demand.

**He started it…**

"That doesn't MEAN attack him."

**HE doesn't need to keep saying it like that.**

"Um…I'm sorry if I insulted him; that wasn't my intension."

"It's not your fault…SOUL! just needs to learn not to take things so seriously."

**Then tell him to watch his mouth.**

"Ok…um Soul right?" Christopher sort of looks around as if trying to locate him in some general direction, "If I what I said offended you I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude."

**Hmpf…** I sigh as Soul leaves it be seeming like he takes the apology and goes about his business. I gesture for Christopher to sit back down and cautiously he does so.

"He…has a bit of a temper doesn't he…?" he tries to choose his words wisely,

"If Soul didn't like you he would have just outright attacked you just now rather than throw a pillow. He doesn't like strangers but…he's gotten to observe how you and the others interact with one another and around me if he thought you all were a threat he would have killed all of you by now…Eduardo especially."

"I guess that's fine then." I look down at the floor remembering what I've been trying to tell him this whole time. I bite my lower lip trying to calm myself,

"The…reason why I try to stay away from people was one I was scared of them but…the bigger reason was Soul. Sometimes Soul an become really terrifying….he's always felt the need to protect me. the problem is…he attacks first and asks questions later. He becomes like a vicious guard dog of a lion trying to defend it's cubs…when someone tries to attack me or threatens me…like what happened back in the teashop…although I'll admit I told him to do that this time…but only because you would have died if you had tried helping me… I wouldn't have told him to otherwise. But because that man tried to hurt me…"

"Soul reacted aggressively…" I nod.

"He's like that all the time…if he even thinks that someone it trying to attack he responds just like he did earlier…he doesn't show any mercy…sometimes I can stop him…but most of the time…I can't. I don't control him…he has a will of his own and for some reason he feels an overwhelming need to protect me from what or who could hurt me. And it's because of that…"

"It's because of that you never let yourself be around anyone." I nod. "So in some sense he's like a defense mechanism that thinks for itself trying to protect you." I nod. It falls silent again now that I've finished explaining things.

_I know I've explained things but now that he knows what is he going to say? Soul didn't help with that pillow earlier. He was so shocked when Soul killed that person and I admitted that I let him. He may think I would willing let him kill others…_

"I'm sorry…" I say, "I told Soul to kill that person because of what that Seer had told me. She told me I would have to make a choice between keeping my secret of saving a friend. I may have had good intensions behind it but that still doesn't give me the right to let Soul kill people. I shouldn't have let him do it. I understand if you want me to go or if you don't think you can trust me even. I'm sorry…"

I feel as though I'm going to cry but manage to hold my tears back.

"You don't have to say sorry Airi…" I look up at him and he pets my head, "I think I understand you a little better now or I guess I should say both of you. I can understand why you would want to keep yourself away from others because of him; I also understand the situation a little better now that I know about Soul."

"You're not afraid of me or Soul?"

"I would be lying if I said that I didn't have any ifs about this situation and I'm still trying to wrap my head around Souls existence but no I'm not scared of either of you. But Airi…it might be a good idea to tell the others about him."

"What? Why?"

"What if something like this comes up again? If you have Soul help you or if something happens that sets him off and you can't stop him how do you think they would react to you both. They would not appreciate you keeping something like this from them. I know you didn't really have a choice in telling me and I understand I really do, I understand that it was difficult to trust me and tell me what was going on and that it will be even more difficult telling the rest of them but telling them now would help them understand you better and trust you better than holding off and keeping it a secret."

"But…what if…they don't understand…? What if they don't trust me? I mean…slowly I've been letting some of my walls down but I've been trying to keep my distance to keep you all safe."

"I know but think about it Airi…they've been getting the wrong idea from the start right? It would clear things up for them and Airi trust is something that you earn. How are they to trust you if you don't trust them?" what he hays makes sense. I haven't been very trust worthy and they're reacting to it in the same way.

**He's one thing but the others…are you sure you want to tell them?**

"**You still don't trust them?"**

**It's not about trust…they may turn on you if we do tell them.**

"**I don't think they would…they're not like the others."**

**That may be but…**

"**I'm tired of this Soul…Aren't you tired of hiding and being on edge all the time around them?"**

…

"**At least around them don't you want to be able to not hide?" **

…

"Soul?"

"What is it?"

"He just stopped talking to me…he may not like the idea of them all being aware-"

**Alright…**

"What?"

**We'll try it your way this time…if you want to tell them, I won't stop you."**

"Airi?" I nod "So you'll tell them?"

"Yes…but please don't tell them about what happened tonight unless absolutely needed. It's bad enough that Soul will have to do something in order to prove it to them he exists, I don't think it will help telling them that he's killed people before."

"Alright I guess that's fair." He pets my head again, "Thank you for being honest with me Airi. I appreciate it." I look down feeling relieved and for some reason tears start falling down my face.

_I…I don't understand. Why am I crying like this? All I did was just tell him about Soul. _I try to wipe my eyes but bigger tears only replace them.

"I'm s-sorry…I- I don't know why I'm crying so much…I'm sorry I'll s-stop now…" but the tears don't stop now matter how much I try to stop them. Christopher hugs me against his chest holding me gently,

"It's ok…you can cry as much as you want. it must have been difficult to keep something like that a secret for so long." His words seem to act as a key to a gate and all my emotions run free and I can't even try to stop my tears. He lets me cry for as long as I need to until I fall asleep.

**Please leave me some feed back as to whether or not I should continue this story or not. **


	5. Chapter 5

Enter the "Amazing" Alan!

As I help Thomas fold up the laundry that was drying in the sun a sheet flies of the clothes line and makes it's way into the air. Thomas tries to grab ahold of it but I have to grab ahold of him so he doesn't go overboard,

"Shoot! That one it captain's favorite..."

"I got it…" I say to him, "Soul can you get that please?"

The sheet now floating in the water suddenly floats up and heads over to me; it rings itself out before properly folding itself into my arms. "We'll have to wash it again…but it looks ok."

"Wow you guys are amazing! I still can't believe that he actually does what you ask like that." It's been about a week since I told the others about Soul. At first it was just Christopher but now they all know. He was right by telling them it had created less stress between everyone and me about my wanting to stay away from them. In their own weird ways they were all understanding about it. Although Soul is still getting used to trying to find his own place in the group now he actually seems to be a little less on edge about them all (but he still doesn't like Eduardo…). It took them a minute to actually believe me about Soul but when Christopher told about how Soul actually helped us to get away safely without mentioning the death they seemed to understand and believe me. Although Soul had to show them himself that he was real by taking over Thomas mind and having him go after Eduardo and say, _"You keep picking on Airi and I'll make sure to pick on you too." _Since it was so uncharacteristic like of Thomas they believed it was Soul well there's that plus the fact that Soul made Thomas hold a knife to Eduardo's throat. Since then he's been trying to help in his own way by helping me and even the others when there's nothing to help me with. I still keep a distance but the distance between me and them has seemed to have gotten smaller. It's going to be a bit of a slow process but I'm letting my walls down.

I smile at Thomas a bit,

"I told you I don't control him Thomas…"

"I know but still I mean I can't see him but he's still there doesn't that freak you out?"

**What the hell does he mean by that?**

"It did at first but once I got to know Soul it wasn't that bad." I think back on what had happened before, "Um sorry about him trying to hit you with the bucket before…" I had explained to them some of the incidents that had taken place on the ship including Thomas and Nathan's mishaps. "I know I already said this but Soul just doesn't like strangers and he's really over protective…so…"

"It's ok…he's just doing what he thinks he needs to to keep you safe. I understand. You said he's like an over protective brother right? I can understand that." He smiles at me

**I like this kid. **I can practically hear the smirk in that statement.

"**Soul…don't start getting a big ego."**

"Thanks. Hey…um have you heard about where we're going yet? We've been at sea for a few days now."

"Well my guess is that we'll be going somewhere soon; it doesn't really take that long for captain to choose a new destination."

"Hey lunch is ready!" Nathan calls for everyone to come into the mess hall and we head off. Everyone must be hungry because they all head in first before Thomas and I except for Christopher,

"How are things?"

"Fine I guess."

"You should have seen it Doctor Christopher; Soul is really cool. He retrieved captains favorite sheet just a second ago. I wish I had a guardian like that!" Thomas is exaggerating.

**He acts like it's a new discovery to retrieve an item…**

"I think you're forgetting that no one can actually see you Soul." I say quietly

"Heh…I don't think it's something to get too worked up over Thomas."

"I'm serious you should have seen it! He rung it out and even folded it up."

"…it's really not that special Thomas…Soul used to always help me with Laundry back in Yamato."

"Yeah but-"

"Thomas if we keep sitting out here talking there won't be any food left." Christopher reminds him. Thomas looks inside,

"Hey save some for me too!" I sigh in relief,

"You ok…?" Christopher tousles my hair, a habit he seems to have picked up now.

"I'm fine…I just…I'm not used to it…all that unneeded praise is all…I mean he was even starting to annoy Soul."

"That's not very surprising considering he has such a short temper."

**HEY! Watch it…** Although he says that Soul isn't actually mad and merely tugs on Christopher's arm slightly tripping him through the door.

"Soul be nice…" I say entering behind Christopher.

**Tch…that was nice.** He seems to be relaxing more and more each day. Soul is also letting his walls down around them.

It's lively as everyone eats but I stay quiet but still pay attention to the conversation. Nathan asks what I want and I tell him what I want which is rice balls and miso soup.

"Don't you ever eat?" Eduardo pokes fun at me.

"I-I do…just not as much as you."

"You calling me a pig." I realize what I said gave the wrong idea and I frantically shake my head no,

"N-no of course not—I –I just meant that I don't like stuffing my face!"

"…And I do?"

"NO t-that's not what I'm saying at all!" suddenly Eduardo's knife floats up to his face making everyone freeze. Eduardo's eye is so big I think it could pop out of his head right now. After a few tense seconds the knife floats down and begins to help the fork cut into a medium rare steak on his plate.

"S-Soul that wasn't very nice…"I say knowing that he really only meant to tease Eduardo back.

"Was that his way of telling him leave you alone?" Russell asks trying not to laugh at Eduardo's red face.

"y-yes… sorry Eduardo." He takes the floating fork and knife and swipes a piece of meat into his mouth. Soon Nathan brings out my food and stares at me. "um…is something wrong?"

"Just curious here but…does Soul eat anything?" I shake my head no.

"he only survives on the link between us…that's what keeps him alive."

"Hmm…"

"um…sorry about your kitchen."

"Not mad about that just eat your food." While we're eating Captain Morgan explains where we'll be going next. Apparently we have to get ahold of an item first before we can get the treasure we're after. It's a heavily guarded Moldor navy station. He places a map out on the table as we all listen and it seems very detailed. I don't think I want to know how they got it; the map is so detailed that only a person of high station in the navy would have it.

"The problem is we won't really know what we're up against until we get there; and the place is so heavily guarded we would have a hard time sneaking in and out without being noticed."

"Where's this station located anyway?" Russell asks.

"In the port town of Lanlan island. The problem is there's no way of know any details about the place being guarded or even when the guards shift at what times. We don't even know where the key is being held."

Looking at the map Soul starts a conversation with me,

**That would be easy to find out for me.**

"**Are you volunteering?"**

**Not really but it seems like fun…be sides this way they don't have to cause trouble for me and put you in danger by sneaking in…**

"**you sure that's all?"**

**do you not want me to help? You're the one who told me helping them would help get them to trust us more.**

"**Now you're starting to use my words against me…copy cat."**

**Just tell them we can handle it already.**

He doesn't like to show it but Soul can actually be pretty nice when he's not hurting people or being over protective.

"So any ideas as to how we get in?"

"Um actually…" I say getting their attention, "Soul and I can find out all that without anyone having to sneak in."

"Seriously you can? How?" Morgan asks

"Soul and I have a connection remember; what he sees I can see. I just have to be close enough to the place in order for him to wander around through the entire area and we can mark it on the map."

"How can you see what he sees?" Thomas asks,

"My mind can travel with his… it's kind of like he can become my eyes-"

**Airi!**

"Wh-what what did I say?"

**tell them there's a ship coming and it doesn't look too friendly…**

"does it look like it's going to fire on us?"

"fire on us?" I look at Christopher, "Can Soul see something?"

"He says there's a ship coming for us. He can't tell what kind it is though."

Everyone gets up from the table to head outside. Once outside we can see the ship heading straight for us. Thomas looks through the telescope trying to see the ship better. It's seems really far off I doubt it will be much help. Soul's sight is a little different he can somehow zoom in on things with is eyes even though he can't go too far away.

"It's definitely head straight for us but I can't see its colors from here." Thomas says.

"**Soul…?"**

**On it.**

I close my eyes and connect my mind to Soul. From up above I can see like a bird the others looking out at see seem a little far off. As Soul moves away he heads out to sea heading straight for the ship but he can only go so far before I can start feeling the strain of him being so far away and a dull pain begins to appear in my entire body.

"**Soul…it's starting to hurt…can you zoom in from here?" **

**It won't be as good as it could be but we should be able to get some details. **

"**T-That's fine lets just hurry…I don't know how long until I can't stand the pain." **Soul zooms in on the ship little by little until I can make out a few people on the ship. They look unusual to me but then again when he zooms in from this distance we can only make out so much.

"**Ok…that's good Soul I think I got it come back now."** I disconnect my mind with his and begin to feel the relief of the pain slowly consuming my body ebbing little by little. When I turn Christopher is staring at me concerned,

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah…why?"

"You looked like you were in pain just a second ago."

"Oh…I'm fine I was just trying to see…who was over on the ship."

"Did you get a good look?" Nathan asks.

"Well not as well as I could have…it so far off I was only able to get a few details. There were four people I could see…someone wearing all black…two people who looked like they were the same person and a really big pink thing with blonde hair I think."

"The Rika…" they all say in unison.

"Can't they ever just leave us alone?"

"They always follow us."

"What's the Rika?" I can't help but ask.

"the Rika is another pirate ship and it's captained by a man named Allan. The one dressed all in black that you mentioned was him. The two you mentioned to be look-a-likes were the twins Tom and Colin and the pink thing you saw was Fuzzy?" Christopher explains

"It was fuzzy? It didn't look that way to me."

"No, no her name is Fuzzy."

"There's a girl pirate on their ship too?"

"She's not a girl; she a big gorilla is what she is." Russell interjects. "She's not lady like in the slightest and she throws her weight around like she's an animal." _She sounds scary._

"Russell…" Christopher shakes his head, "Anyway Captain Alan likes to follow our Captain around and cause trouble for us. when they do catch up to us they start a fight with us. it's sort of like a way we all get along."

"But why does he chase captain Morgan around?"

"I haven't got a clue…hahahahahaha! But it's a good work out and it's good fun to kick his but all the time." _I think the captain kind of enjoys it a bit too much. _The Sirius suddenly rocks and sways as something hits us. Still not really used to being on a ship and the rocking I land on my hands and knees. Soon the ship appears next to us and I can see captain Alan from his ship. He really is wearing all black, black hat, black jacket…I think his name should be Black Jack or something…even his hair is black. I can also see Fuzzy; she doesn't seem to be that bad looking compared to what Russell was saying she's just one of those thick boned people…and Tom and Colin well do look identical… they definitely make up their own team.

"Sirius Pirates, prepare to bow down before the amazing Alan!"

"the amazing Alan?" I can't help but repeat it.

"Nothing amazing about him just his big ego." Nathan says by me, "you should stay out of the way." The Rika pirates jump over onto our ship and I can't help but feel a bit out of place. Alan spots me and I feel my body tense and Soul begins to become agitated.

"Huh? And who are you?" I don't answer.

"What?! Now the Sirius has a female pirate! I'm the only female pirate able to survive on the seas! Who are you?" Fuzzy seems really mad yet I didn't do anything to her. "Hey can't you hear both Master Alan and I asked you who you are so answer!" _h-how am I supposed to answer them when she's so intimidating?_

"Oh Stuff it you oversized Gorilla she can't even fight." She snaps her attention over to Russell

"Who are you calling a gorilla you overgrown monkey!?" she shouts raising a fist. I feel as though I'm being watch and I turn to see the twins inspecting me curiously,

"Um…" I watch them nervously.

"Hmm…she seems"

"Very flimsy…how can she"

"Be a pirate?" _Huh? Are they finishing each other's sentences? How in sync are they?_

"Maybe she's got some hidden talent"

"Or even…say Colin you don't think?"

"Yeah it's possible although I wouldn't have ever thought"

"You must be Morgan's new flame!" they both conclude at the same time.

"WHAT?! N-no!"

"Hey I'm not like you're perverted captain! I haven't done anything like that to her yet!" _um Captain you kind of just made it sound like you would later…_

"Hey who're you calling perverted?" Alan shouts.

**What the hell is this…? **

"**I dunno but I suddenly feel tired…"**

**I'm annoyed.**

"**When are you never annoyed Soul?" **I laugh. Suddenly a gunshot goes off and I duck. When I look up I see a hole in Alan's hat.

**Heh for once I agree with one eye…at least he knows how to shut them up.** but not for long soon Russell can't seem to take it anymore and goes for Fuzzy. As soon as those two start going at it the others start getting into a fight as well.

"Eep!" I duck as a dagger heads my way, "I need to find somewhere to hide."

**Want to try a barrel again?**

"I'm not hiding in one of those death traps again…" I mumble as I watch the fight from a distance.

**Watch it…** Soul shields me from on coming debris from their tousle and all I just do is watch them curiously. I wonder if this is what Christopher meant by how they get along? Russell and Fuzzy glare at each other and insult one another as they launch attacks at each other. Christopher and Nathan take on the twins but neither really seem that interested in the battle or rather Christopher is just dodging or evading the attacks and Nathan has an uninterested look on his face. I'm pretty sure he's thinking this is all a pain in the butt right now. Eduardo helps Captain Morgan fight Alan. Although think Eduardo is having fun making Alan dance around while he shoots at his feet.

**How the HELL is this a battle? **

"**I don't know but I guess in their own way they get along."**

**That's not getting along…I wouldn't even know what to call that…stupid dancing?**

They continue their fights and it starts to drag on and I can tell that Soul is starting to become very irritated,

**Alright this is getting old really fast…how LONG can this go on for? Don't they have anything better to do?!**

Eduardo continues to shoot at Alan's feet and makes him start heading over to me.

Soon he starts coming over towards me and I try to back away. _Ah not good!_ I get out of the way as Alan trips over his own feet. But instead of dodging him he grabs ahold of my arm and pulls me down.

"Ah!" I land on my back as I'm pulled down with him. I sit up and find captain Alan staring at me in the face.

"Master Alan! Are you ok?"

"Airi!" I stare at Alan with a horrific look on my face as I feel something odd.

"Y-You…" His eyes widen as he squeezes my breast, "You're different…"

"K-KYAAAHHH!" I slap him as hard as I can and cover my chest, "Y-You really are a pervert! Chikan, Chikan, CHIKAN!"

"N-no nonnononono! T-that's not what happened!"

"Alan…!" Morgan grabs his attention, "That's low even for you…"

"N-No not you too! It's not what you think!" _He…he clearly touched me there! what does he mean it's not what we think?! _"Look just listen for a second! I didn't do it-" Alan is suddenly knocked back by an invisible force. "Ouch…! What was that?"

"**S-Soul…S-stop…!"**

**HE TOUCHED YOU! I can't let that slide!**

"**No Stop you can't kill him!"**

**HE TOUCHED YOU! I'm going to tear him apart!**

"**But it really was an accident!**

"Alan…you and these others need to leave…now." Morgan stares at him seriously.

"I'm telling you it was an accident! I wouldn't really do it on purpose!"

"Fine I heard you the first time but you need to leave now." Captain can most likely tell Soul is about to try and kill Alan and is trying to get him to leave. Alan looks at him confused apparently Morgan has never been like this towards him before so it seems to be a bit awkward. _Please leave…before you get hurt. _

"We're going."

"But Master Alan-"

"We can beat them later Fuzzy…" the Rika Pirates leave heading back to their ship. When they do leave Alan makes eye contact with me but it isn't one of shame or apology he seems to be looking at me like he knows something.

…

"Soul this isn't funny! Let me back in!" I bang on the door leading into the infirmary, "Soul…! You're going to mess everything up and make a mess if you don't let me back in right now."

**I don't see why you keep helping him with HIS work…let that doctor watch his own medicine making…**

"This isn't funny Soul mixing Chemicals can be dangerous if you're not careful. You have to let me back in there. What if something goes wrong with the mixture?"

**I don't see how that's OUR problem… house work I don't mind since I help you with that all the time but since when have we been reduced to watching medicine grow? **

"Stop being such a baby about it and open up!" I yank on the door with all my might trying to open the door but it won't budge an inch. "S-Sooouuulll…open the….DOOORRRR!" I let out a puff of air.

…**.No**

I pull on my hair unable to believe his stubbornness at the moment over something so small a subject.

"You're enjoying this too much…!"

"Airi what are you doing?"

"Ah Ch-Christopher…Soul locked me out while I was trying to watch the medicine like you asked me to…and he won't let me back in." he tries the door himself but it still won't open. He tries again but still the door remains tightly locked.

"ok…what did I do this time?" he still smiles but sighs as he asks. Soul has been pulling a bunch of pranks on everyone but for some reason he especially like to play them on Christopher; most likely because Christopher won't give Soul the reaction he wants.

"N-nothing, Soul is just being a meanie…! Soul open the-" there's a loud thud like sound from the other side before we hear the lock on the door click. Christopher opens the door and smoke comes pouring out of the room. Automatically I pinch my nose closed from the smell and try squinting my eyes from the burning of the smoke.

"it shtinks…" I say,

"yes it does…" he lets off a big sigh then laughs "good one Soul… but better luck next time…"

**Hmpf…**

"Are you happy with yourself?" I ask a very disappointed Soul, "I don't get it Soul why do you like playing pranks on everyone anyway?"

**It's in my nature; I like watching the reaction. I don't hurt them with them…**

"Don't you think you should down play them just a bit…I mean the last prank you pulled on Eduardo you made him shoot off his gun in the air."

**Just goes to show you he can even lose his cool hah hah…**

"He was aiming for you…" I hear Christopher laugh and turn to him, "What?"

"I wish I could understand what he says so I didn't have such a hard time understanding what you two talk about." I realize I've been talking out loud and rub my arm,

"S-sorry…"

"Don't be, if anything I think that's a good thing."

"Good thing?"

"It means you're opening up a bit more right? Usually you would still try to talk to Soul in your head rather than just start talking. Even the others are noticing it." it's been about a month and a half since I got on the Sirius and already things are happening that I didn't think would. A few weeks ago I had told everyone about Soul and slowly but surely I had been letting the distance close bit by bit. Even Soul seems to be relaxing around them. "Actually I would have thought that after what Alan did you would have shut down again but I'm glad that wasn't the case."

"I don't even want to think about that…but…" _he was acting kind of funny before he left that day. He was acting like he knew something about me but what? I've never met him before…_

"But what?"

"Is Alan always like that?"

"I'd like to say no but unfortunately he has a bad reputation for being a pervert…it worse than saying captain is a womanizer." I think about the few times in port that I've seen Captain Morgan heading to places that look like brothels and it makes a shiver go down my spine.

"I guess that's saying something then…" I start cleaning the mess made from the explosion picking up the messy glassware.

"Ok Airi…" I look back a Christopher confused, "What are you thinking?" I shake my head no,

"Nothing… just…"

"Come on now… I know you well enough now to know when you're thinking something. What is it?"

"I-it's just that…Alan…when he left…he was looking at me funny."

"well…that doesn't really surprise me."

"No…I mean a different kind of funny, like he knew something or was aware of something."

"hm…that's strange. Why would he look at you like that? You haven't met him before that day." I Shrug my shoulders unable to understand myself. There's a knock on the door before Thomas pokes his head in,

"Um…the Rika is here." _Huh?_ "Captain Alan…said he wanted to talk to us and that Miss Airi should be there too."

"Me? Why?"

"He didn't say but he doesn't seem like his usual self; he's seems really serious even for him." Christopher looks over at me looking concerned.

"Alright we're coming." As Thomas leaves I can sense he's getting in a bad mood. He already doesn't like Alan because of what happened. No doubt that if Soul gets the chance he's going to try to hurt Alan and his crew members.

"**Soul…you have to control yourself…"**

**He touched you…did you forget? **His voice is dark and deep as he growls out the words,

"**Soul I know…but we don't even know what he's here for." **

**I don't care…! I'm going to tear him apart. Even Christopher was telling you he was a pervert why would I give him the chance to touch you again?**

"**You do this all the time Soul…we don't know what he wants so just cool it for now." **

**No!** he's made up his mind and I can't change it.

"Airi what's the matter?"

"I-I can't go out there."

"Why?"

"Soul… he's not too happy about Alan…if I go out there he's going to go after him and maybe even the others."

"I don't think he needs to be so uptight about it…from what it sounds like Alan didn't come here to play or fight with us. he may actually have something he really needs to discuss." He thinks for a moment, "Soul…can't you at least let him say what he has to say? I understand why you would be a bit untrusting of him. but if Alan needs to talk about something he usually knows when to get serious. I don't think he's here to hurt Airi or anyone on this ship. So…can you listen for the time being and not do anything?" Soul doesn't reply but the door opens on its own. "I guess that's a yes.

"More like an "I don't want to but fine"" _I'm surprised that he was able to reason with Soul like that though…that doesn't usually happen. _Outside everyone is already there; I try to maintain a distance from Alan and his crew for their protection since Soul is still very agitated but close enough to listen. Alan stares at me as I keep my distance. Christopher stands by me keeping an eye on the situation.

"What's this about Alan?" Captain Morgan asks finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. Alan blinks and turns his attention to Morgan.

"The girl you have on your ship, how much do you know about her?" _why does he want to know about me?_

"What kind of question is that?"

"Seer's are able to see things in a different light right? They can tell when something is off."

"What are you getting at?"

"Master Alan is able to sense a persons aura and even see into their past when he comes into physical contact with them." _Physical contact…_

"Fuzzy that's enough I'll explain."

"Hold on, how is a perverted wash up like you a seer? You don't even have the markings all seers are boon with." Eduardo snaps.

"sometimes seer's are born with small markings that can be hidden by clothing…but that's not the point I'm trying to make."

"Then what is the point you're making Alan; what is it that you want to know about Airi?" captain Alan looks back at me,

"How much do you know about her?"

"The hell kind of question is that?" Nathan asks, "You bother us…go away already."

"She's not normal you know? Her life aura is all mixed up like it's not just hers and he past is so mixed up I can't make any of it out."

"Hold on…are you saying she's a threat to us?" Christopher suggests.

"Alan, you have no right to criticize any of my crew especially if you don't know anything about them. what ever it is that you sense from her you should just leave it alone."

"So then you do know and yet you're keeping her on your ship?! That's crazy Morgan if I can't even tell what's going on, a seer, then you should be smart enough to keep her away from the people you're responsible for."

**Annoying…! **

"**Soul don't!" **

"Alan I'm telling you for your and your crews own good…leave it alone."

"Captain Alan said"

"The girl was as if she wasn't alone."

"and therefore there was something"

"That was amiss." The twins say one after the other finishing their thought together,

"Master Alan took it upon himself to tell you because he's generous like that. If he says something is wrong with that girl then he has to be right." The air becomes filled with tension as they start to argue back and forth. One side tries to defend me while the other side tries to accuse me of being a danger to everyone. I can understand where Alan is coming from since he doesn't know about Soul but now that things are going out of control like this I don't know if I can just explain it to him.

"Get rid of her Morgan she's not good for your ship!"

"I decide what is best for my ship; I'm telling you she stays!"

"I'm telling you there's something wrong with that girl!" trying to prove his point Alan points a gun at me,

"Alan Don't!" Morgan shouts at him; Christopher steps in front of me,

"This is crazy Alan; even IF you did see something is pointing a gun at her really going to prove your point? Do you really want to take that risk?"

"Put that DOWN Alan you don't want to do this!"

"I'm sorry but there's something about that girl that just isn't right now get out of the way. What the-" suddenly Thomas grabs ahold of Alan's wrist, "Wh-what the hell rookie let go." Thomas grabs ahold of the gun and throws it out of Alan's hand.

"Thomas stop what are you doing?" he grabs ahold of Alan's collar and throws him across the deck with so much strength I can only believe that its one thing.

"Soul Stop! Let Thomas go!" I scream. He pulls out Thomas sword ignoring me and begins walking over to Alan. Fuzzy Tom and Colin try rushing at him but Soul is able to throw them back with his own power and they're knocked back into the side of the ship.

"**Soul! Soul stop! You have to stop! Please Soul don't kill him! he doesn't know any better please! SOUL!"**

"Airi! Enough get him to stop already!" Morgan commands.

"I can't he's not listening to me! He's out of control! SOUL YOU HAVE TO STOP!" Alan tries to retreat himself but is dragged back close to Thomas by an invisible force and it seems to hold him in place. I continue to shout at Soul but he continues to ignore every plea. He's determined to kill Alan and not let anything get in his way of accomplishing that goal. He sees Alan as a threat for wanting me gone thinking Alan may wanted me dead he only proved Soul's theory by holding a gun to my head. Captain and the others try to get close to Thomas but again Soul only throws them away like nothing.

"Soul stop!" he gets closer and closer to Alan unable to escape. "STOP!"

"Thomas you have to try and stop; do something!"

"He can't hear you Russell! Soul Please listen to me you have to stop!" he raises the sword and points the blade at Alan. My feet move on their own as I go over to them; I place myself in between Thomas and Alan, "STOP SOUL!" it's quiet for a long time before

"M-Miss Airi what's going on?" _He…he stopped…I actually got him to stop tat time…_

"What was that?! What's going on?!" Alan shouts from behind me, "You tried to kill me just now but you stopped him. WHAT?"

"Master Alan!" fuzzy pushes past me and I nearly lose my balance.

**Damn it! **

"Stop it Soul!" I say loud enough for me to hear only, "I'll deal with you later!"

"Airi…you alright?" the Sirius crew gather around making sure everything is fine.

"I'm fine…I'm sorry I didn't even realize the took over Thomas' mind again."

"It's not your fault…" Christopher pat my head

"What do you mean it's not her fault!? I was nearly killed Morgan do something about it!"

"Um…mister Alan…" his anger seems to be diffused as I quietly call out to him, "Um…I think you may have the wrong impression here…I don't think it was me that you sensed…"

"What?"

…

"Oh now I get it that makes perfect sense now." After having no choice but to explain why Alan was nearly killed by Soul…I again had to trust someone and tell my secret. "And you all knew about it?"

"Duh…"Nathan says

"Why else would we be so calm about it?" Eduardo says, "You really are an idiot; you could have just figured it out on your own that we knew something about her…"

"But then why didn't you just say so from the beginning?"

"Miss Airi didn't want anyone to really know about Soul and their connection except for us; it too her a bit of time to work up the nerve to tell all of us."

"You can't tell anyone about this Alan…don't go blabbing this to anyone that goes for your crew too."

"Who do you think I am Morgan? I'm the amazing Alan keeping secrets is what I do best!"

"No it's not…" all six of them say at the same time and I try to hold back a laugh.

"Anyway I'm sorry I misunderstood you Airi. I should have known from you cute and adorable face that you wouldn't hurt a fly."

**Tch…he touches you again his head's coming off.**

"Soul stop… um please I'm serious Mister Alan…please don't tell people about Soul. it has to stay a secret between the Sirius and the Rika."

"Oh of course don't worry about it but could I ask you for something in return?" a kitchen knife comes straight at Alan and is inches away from his nose

**NO YOU CAN'T! **

"Um…I think it be best if you maintain you distance…I don't know if I'll be able to stop Soul a second time."

"Knowing Alan…that's probably a good thing." Morgan sighs s the air becomes less tense and the usual banter starts up again and once they all start fighting again I can't help but smile at how everyone gets along. Even though they're rivals they still have fun with each other.

"teehee.."


	6. Chapter 6

The Unknown Creature (Part 1)

About two weeks after I met Captain Alan of the Rika we made port in Lanlan. In order for us to get a treasure we need something that is being held by the navy in one of their forts. Although we have to be careful, Captain seems to be taking it easy by taking us to a very rowdy bar. Even though I explained it to him before we went into town that Soul gets agitated very easily around people like this he seemed to not even bother with it still took us here. I had to make Soul promise not to do anything unless absolutely needed. Even now I can tell he want to leave this place but I can't do anything about it.

"Hey Thomas give me your meat." Russell tries to swipe away Thomas' food as usual, he treats Thomas like a brother he can bully.

"Hey, don't take my food; I'm not even done with it yet!" I quietly take a bite of mine as I watch Thomas try to keep his plate out of Russell's reach.

"Don't be so stingy! Hand it over!"

"No way there's more right over there! Why do you have to have mine?" I can't help but laugh a little watching the so called siblings. I look around seeing what other things are in this restaurant but all I can make out is a rowdy atmosphere. Although he doesn't like it Soul seems to be taking some interest in the antics going on around him and explores a bit.

"Airi how are you holding up?" Christopher asks looking at me.

"I'm fine. why do you ask?"

"You stopped eating so I though something was wrong." I shake my head no and smile before eating a few carrots off my plate. "How is Soul holding up?" he whispers in my ear.

"Fine for the moment…he doesn't like the atmosphere but…he seems to be behaving himself."

"Hmpf, if you ask me he's like a ticking time bomb…you pull the wrong string and he goes off." _Eduardo didn't have to word it like that…_ "You should learn to control your pet." He smirks.

"He's not my pet…! I can't control him…how many times do I have to say that?" I protest.

"Eduardo… I would think that by now you would stop trying to upset Soul. He beats you every time." Christopher says. _Well that's true…no matter what Eduardo does he can't get one up on Soul. _

"One of these days I will."

"Somehow I highly doubt that…" Russell says while he has Thomas in a headlock in one arm and a plate in another.

"Um…Russell isn't that Thomas' food?" I can already tell what the answer is.

"He gave it up."

"I did not Russell! C'mon let me go already and give me back my food!"

"Shuddup already and maybe I will."

"Russell let Thomas go and give him back his food." Christopher as seeming a bit used to this whole thing.

"Fine…Hey Airi give me your food." Suddenly my plate still half full of vegetables, meat and half eaten bowl of soup is gone from in front of me.

"Russell I wasn't finished…! Stop being such a greedy gut…" I say.

"Heh you'll have to be quicker next time. Get yourself another plate there's plenty of food left.

"Russell…!" Christopher snaps and does something I've never seen him do before.

"Ow! Doc Whaddya doing?!" he pulls on Russell's ear

"Give it back Russell…now."

"Alright, alright just quit pulling already!" Christopher takes my plate and sets it back down in front of me before letting go of Russell.

"You should take your own advice if you're still hungry instead of trying to steal it from others." I take a bite of my food while staring at Christopher who's reprimanding Russell alike you would see a mother do to a child almost. It's kind of Christopher like but it's a bit odd to watch.

…

"AAAHHH!" I shoot straight up in my bed, my body drenched in sweat. I look around the room checking the shadows for anything. Again the same flashing images that are Soul's fragmented memories haunt my dreams. I look around again and find myself in my own rom for once since getting on the Sirius. This time I don't have Christopher to calm me down. "S-Soul…"

**Well at least you're not crying this time…you ok?**

"I'm scared Soul…I'm scared of the things you've seen…"

…**I don't blame you… **I sit on the side of the bed my heart still pounding and I feel a blanket drape over me. **You should try going back to sleep. **

"I can't… you know I can't. It's too dark they'll get me if I go back to sleep…"

**it's all in your head Airi…their just bad dreams… **Soul says softly,

"You said so yourself…They exist…"

**But not here…**

"I still don't like it…"

**Yeah…Me neither…**

…

I look out the window of my bedroom unable to go back to sleep from the dreams and monsters. The sky looks grey as the sun begins to rise. _I need to get ready we're supposed to be heading out early today. _Although I keep saying that to myself I can't seem to get up and do it. The blanket Soul placed over my shoulders hasn't even budged along with me. I'm in a daze from the dream. _I need to pull myself together…_

I finally get myself up and start getting ready when I hear a knock on the door. I peak outside to see Christopher standing there.

"You almost ready?"

"I will be in a minute I just woke up…" I try smiling as to not make him worry and close the door. _Forget…I need to forget right now…I have to…_ my heart feels inexplicably heavy and a chill begins to run down my spine and my body starts shaking. _No…! Calm down…calm down…!_ I take a deep breath. _What was that just now? I've never felt like that before…please don't let anything happen._

…

I try my best to keep up with the others as we head into deeper into the forest. Apparently the fort is located deep in the forest. Trying to forget my dreams I focus on the path we take finding different critters and other animals that I haven't seen before. Although the insects I could really do without but other than that I find it to be very fun. Soul takes an interest in scaring some of the animals making them scurry away back into the forest. After some time the sun finally reaches the center of the sky and captain has I take a break for lunch. I don't know how but Nathan was able to cook us some food out here, nothing special just some soup and some sandwiches. As I nibble on my sandwich Thomas starts asking me a question,

"Hey miss Airi, you said that with Soul you're able to see things he sees right; how do you do that exactly?"

"I was actually wondering that myself…Alan interrupted us before you could finish explaining that." Eduardo speaks up after.

"Um…well it's because of our bond. I guess the best way to explain it is that I can connect my mind to him and…I can see what he sees. I don't really know how else to explain it."

"That's another thing how is it that you can't even understand what he is or how you can do any of the things you do?" Eduardo asks me annoyed.

"I…only know what Soul knows…and that isn't much. He doesn't really know how he got like this, why he's connected to me, or even about his powers…he just knows how to control them and everything. He…can't even really remember who he was or where he came from…"

"I think I remember you saying that he remembered a few things didn't you?"

"Just fragments Christopher…and there aren't that many. I can never make out what they are anyway…they're just fragments that don't make any sense."

"Fragments of what?" Morgan's question makes me twitch as I remember the nightmare from last night. My lips press together tightly as I fight myself to tell them until finally I somehow work up the courage to find the words,

"…Monsters…" I look away from my bowl at them, the air suddenly becomes uneasy, "It's…always monsters that I can see…I dream about them sometimes…somehow Soul's memories end up in my head when I sleep…at first I hear screaming…it not human, it's not just that…they sound as if they're being killed somehow… then the images start showing…they flash by so quickly I can barely make them out…"

"The night terror you we having your first night here, was that what you were dreaming about?" I nod at Christopher's question.

"What can you make out?" Nathan asks, "You say you can barely see anything but you can make out something right? Even if they're fragments you should be able to make out what some of them are." I shake my head no at his comment,

"It's different every time…" I take a moment to gather the words, "Sometimes…I see fangs, ragged teeth…headless inhuman things…blood painted walls…dark eyes…it just varies sometimes though…but all I ever see is death." The air has become tense at my words and no one seems to be able to say anything about it_. I can't really blame them, to them I must seem like a rather disturbed girl now I don't like seeing these things but there's no way I can not see them. _"Sometimes I feel as though they're chasing me…the images pass by so quickly yet they're so vivid…it almost feels as if they're just waiting for the right moment just to attack…Soul says they can't…they're in a completely different world but they still terrify me."

"So…Soul is from that world and it's just full of monsters?" I look over at captain Morgan

"As far as either one of us can tell yes..."

"But then doesn't that mean that Soul was-"

"He most likely was one of those monsters…the thing is what ever happened to Soul, it changed him…he can't remember what he was or who he was…all it is are fragments."

"But they're just in your memories right; there's no way hey can come here. Other than Soul, he's an exception. It was just a freak accident that he ended up with you. They're just bad memories, these monsters right?" it almost sounds to me like Eduardo is trying to convince himself but…

"It's happened once before…" I say almost too quietly. They all exchange glances before looking back at me, "S-sorry…I probable said too much…" I try to stop talking about it taking a bite of soup but,

"What happened Airi?" Morgan asks me, most likely the same thing the others are wanting to ask. My chest tightens a bit and I set the bowl down suddenly losing my appetite. The fire seems to entrance me as I think back on the memory, the very reason why I feel like it could happen. A warm big hand rests on my shoulder and I look to my left. Christopher stares at me reminding me of what he said, how I can talk to them about things so I do. I take a deep breath.

"I was seven when it happened." Taking my left sleeve up to show my upper arm. A scar beginning at the middle looks mangled and as if it was torn by something yet it looked more like claw marks than anything else, "it happened when I was in the woods. I was walking on my way home and had somehow gotten turned around. It happened so fast that I wasn't sure what was going on…all I remember in that instant was that something had latched onto me and it was trying to kill me…Soul was able to get it off…but it came at me again. Soul killed it by throwing a tree limb at it I think…it went straight through the thing. I was able to take a look at it…it had sharp teeth and claws that looked really long. It looked like it stayed on all fours but its front legs looked longer. It had horns and it looked like its eyes were glowing red…it looked to be about the size of a medium sized bear… I had never had never seen any of Soul's memories at the time but he somehow was able to tell it was a monster from his world." It's quiet for a long time,

"How did it get in the forest if it couldn't get to our world?" I shrug my shoulders at Russell's question,

"It scares me though…knowing that something like that can exist and possibly come into this world…" it's too quiet now I can't take it. I try shaking off the gloomy feeling. "But it was just one instance it won't happen again." I say trying to smile. But I can't help shaking this feeling that something is going to happen.


	7. Chapter 7

**Merry Christmas! **

The unknown creature part 2

My eyes are wide open at the giant wall that I see in front of us that protects the navy fort it huge. We're close enough to allow for me and Soul to look around without the others getting in trouble. We hide in some bushes to give us cover and I try to prepare myself mentally for what is going to happen. Another shiver like the one I felt this morning surges through my body. My heart rate begins to pick up.

_It almost feels like I'm reacting to something. But what…no stop…I can't get cold feet right now. I have to focus. _

**Airi.**

Soul breaks me out of my concentration,

**It's not just you…I can feel it too. Something isn't right.** I look back at the wall,

"**Should we tell the others?"**

**I don't know yet. This cold feeling is something we haven't felt before; it's something new. **

"**I'm scared Soul."**

**Don't be…no matter what happens I'll protect you. ** His words set me at ease I little bit and join the others.

"You sure you want to do this?" Captain asks me one more time,

"It's a little late to come up with a new plan right? Besides it will be safer this way."

"Alright then; they should be switching shifts right now so no one will be outside at the moment."

"Ok…so what are Soul and I looking for?"

"The firs thing you'll want to find out is how many soldiers there are," I listen intently as Eduardo explains the main objectives, "then you need to find which routes are heavily guarded and which ones will be the safest for us; then find the room or rooms that look as though they could be leading to something valuable. They may have guards posted outside the door if that's the case."

"Number of men, safe and dangerous paths and treasure rooms. Ok…anything else."

"If you can find out what their night schedule is like. They may have less security in the night." Nathan adds,

"Ok…you got that Soul?"

**Hm…I got it.**

I close my eyes and my mind joins with Souls. As soon as I'm there, Soul heads through the wall and into the quiet fort. Nothing seems out of place as we take a moment to look around. We head up to get an overview of the entire place.

"Hey you realize your eyes glow blue when you do that right?"

"I don't think she can hear you Russel."

"**Wait my eyes glow?" **

**Hey!** Suddenly my mind jumps back into my body and I find the others looking at me and my head starts to pound at the abrupt disconnection.

"Oopsie…"

**Dummy you can't concentrate on two things at once when we're connected like that! **

"Sorry Soul." something drips onto my hand

**See look what you did?! **I touch my fingers to my nose and find it bleeding a bit much.

"Airi are you hurt?!" Christopher asks me more alarmed than the others I think.

"I'm fine…it's just a side effect. It was my fault. I disconnected my mind the wrong way from Soul and this is the result. It will stop in a minute."

"Airi if doing this is going to injure you-"

"I'm fine really Captain…it's just I heard you guys talking and I was surprised that you said my eyes glow blue and by doing that I didn't focus enough on staying with Soul. my mind can't be in two places at once…so."

"I see…so it's sort of like you tripped in a sense." Christopher says,

"I guess that's one way of putting it." I say wiping the blood off with my sleeve. "see I'm fine; it stopped."

**Hey tell them to shut up so you can concentrate; that goes double for loud mouth over there!**

"um…I'm not trying to be mean but in order for this to work I have to concentrate so… please try to keep the talking to a minimum."

"Ow!" a rock spontaneously hits Russell on the head making him growl in pain, "Hey what the hell did I do?!"

"You're the one who was blabbing first idiot." Eduardo says. Without responding I once again join with Soul and we head off. There seems to be one main building and a few secondary buildings here and there almost as if the place is a small village of its own.

"**Soul head for that building over there." **I point out a building that's over to the left and we head for it first. Heading through the door there are many tables lined up unevenly with benches knocked over. Plates still with food on them and glasses half full or some knocked over still occupy the space on the tables.

**Isn't this where they eat?**

"**But no one is here…that's strange. Head into the kitchen Soul maybe someone is in there." **we pass by the messy scene in front of us and head into the kitchen. But again no one is there. Things are tossed and turned over but no signs of life anywhere. _There should at least be people here wouldn't there? Maybe they are all at a meeting that involves every one?_ We look around carefully but find nothing else out of the ordinary. Exiting the dining hall Soul heads to the building next to it. This one seems to be the sleeping areas or one of them. The beds are all messy as if they don't keep them neat and personal belongings are scattered all over the floor.

**You know for people who are supposed to be well organized they certainly leave something to be desired. **

"**This doesn't make any sense…where is every one?"**

**Your right by now we should have seen someone. Their things are all here but- **my vision jerks along with his to the floor but I can't see what he's looking at.

"**What is it?" **he closes the distance on the ground and focuses on cracks on the ground. **"It's just a crack."**

**No it's not. This cut is too clean for that Airi. Something made this cut. And there's more than one; look. **There are at least four other cracks in the ground

"**Is it just me or do they look like they're spread out evenly?"**

**no you're right; they seem to be making a path. …let's keep looking; I want to find out what's going on. **Soul seems to feel as if something is amiss and I can sense a change in this demeanor. Anything will set him off at this point; he's gone into protective mode right now. We head into the main building forgetting the others and once again find no one at the entrance.

"**Soul you keep looking around; I'm going to go back and tell the others what's going on." **He doesn't answer me but I know he heard. Correctly disconnecting my mind from Soul I find myself back with the others.

"Did you find anything?" I shake my head,

"Not anything that we're looking for. The whole place is empty… there's no one around but the place looks as though it's been used. Soul is looking to see if there's anything going on."

"You couldn't find anyone?" Nathan asks and again I shake my head.

"Hey Soul how's it going?" I say quietly. But there's no answer. _Is he ignoring me?_ "Hey Soul? Come on I know you can hear me…Sou- Ow!" a sharp pain erupts in my entire body indicating that Soul is straining our connection.

"Airi? What's the matter?" Christopher helps me to stay upright from the sudden impact.

"I-It's Soul..!" I gasp. _He keeps getting farther and farther away! What's up with him?! _"S-Soul…you're too far away…! Soul it hurts!" the pain only intensifies as Soul continues going farther away. Tears start trailing down my face, "Soul…stop!" _I have to get him to listen somehow! _ It's getting to be too much and I can barely breath by this point. "I-I breathe…!"

"**Soul you're hurting me! I can't breathe!" **the pain suddenly stops increasing but remains for a few moments before finally I start to feel relief. My lungs take in a large amount of air as the pain subsides more and more.

"Are you alright?" I can't really make out who asked at the moment but I manage to nod my head.

"Wh…what was that Soul?"

**I saw something. I couldn't make out what it was but it wasn't human.**

"You seemed really intent on chasing it…what made you come back you obviously didn't hear me." I say a bit agitated at his one track mind.

**Sorry about that…but you all don't need to hide anymore.**

"What do you mean we don't need to hide?" the wall suddenly crumples to the ground as Soul makes an opening for us to go in.

"Hey why is Soul crushing the wall? He's going to give us away Airi." Russell snaps. I shake my head

"Mind filling us in on what's going on." Eduardo demands.

"He's saying we don't have to hide anymore." I look up at the sky, standing on shaking legs, "what is it Soul?"

… **you're going to want to see this for yourselves; and tell them to be careful; what ever did it may still be around.**

"Wait 'it'?"

**Come on I'll show you. ** I tell the others what's going on and that Soul wants us to follow him. After discussing it for a moment or two Captain Morgan decides to have us take a look. Already knowing which building we were in I show the way but from there Soul leads the way taking us to a hallway. There, the walls and ceiling are covered with gashes and scratches from something unfamiliar.

"the hell…" Nathan says as everyone splits up taking a look at the walls. I head back a bit remembering that I spot something before I left Soul before. In the entrance room there's a circle on the floor that seems to be out of place. It's not a solid line but made of markings like that you would find on a seer. I haven't ever seen anything like it before. The same markings that Soul and I found in the bed quarters lead in the direction to the hall we were at before. I kneel down to get a better look at the markings and brush a finger over one of the mysterious letters. In an instant images flash by so quickly I'm almost unable to see what happened. A bright light coming from the ground, navy soldiers rush around then screams echo in the room and something begins to appear from the light…something inhuman. But as fast as the images began they fade back into darkness and I find myself looking around frantically in the room I was in before.

"**S-soul?"**

**Yeah I saw it too…what the hell was that?**

"**That's never happened before…how did we do that?"**

**I don't know…but don't touch it again. **

"**But-"**

**Don't touch it.** Soul is always like this when it comes to protecting me but he's never been short with me like that before. It only makes me feel even more on edge about what could be happening here. _What was it that came out of the light? I didn't get a good look at it; it all went by too quickly._

"Miss Airi what are you doing over here?" Thomas asks grabbing my attention.

"N-nothing just taking a look around."

"oh…the others are done looking around did you find anything?" I move out of the way to show him the circle. "What is it?"

"I don't know."

"Hey come on hurry up!" Russell says impatient as ever.

"Guys over here; take a look at this!" flagging them down Thomas gets them to come over and take a look at the circle. "Miss Airi found it."

"What is this?"

"I think I've read about this before captain; I think it's supposed to be something called a summoning ring." Christopher explains, "some seers are able to summon creatures using these circles like it's a guardian they can call at anytime."

"But the navy doesn't allow seers to join up in their forces; so why is it here?"

"Maybe a prisoner they had was a seer?" I start to lose focus as the chill I felt before comes back and my stomach flips upside down. _Something isn't right. Where are all the soldiers; what happened? _

**Hey come on.** Soul causes a lantern to fall over getting the others attention, **This isn't what you need to see.**

"Airi?"

"He says this isn't what he was wanting to show us." I answer Christopher. Leading the way the others start following me as I follow Soul. As we head down the stairs it starts to become more and more dark and the only light is coming from torches hanging on the wall. It does nothing to help my beating heart and tensing muscles. It's a bit childish to be afraid of the dark I know…but after seeing the things that are in Soul's memories I have a reason to be scared. Using my hand I try to keep track of the wall as I step carefully. I'm not used to such dark places and I start to get nervous that I might slip at any moment. Gradually I start clinging to the wall more and more and my knees start to go all wobbly on me as my body shivers. Christopher suddenly appears right by me and offers me a hand. I hesitate at first to take it not wanting to be a burden but thinking about how it would most likely be more of a burden if I try to be stubborn I take the offer although I still leave my other hand free to cling to the wall. The warmth from his hand is enough to calm me down; I'm surprised that Eduardo hasn't said anything to try and tease me actually. Setting the thought aside I follow Soul's instructions and help guide us down the stair well. My hand suddenly grazes something on the wall and again images flash in my mind. With the dim light of the torches I can see faintly lit silhouettes of navy soldiers running down the stairs. They shout at each other different things when one of them trips. Another stops to try and check on him but he sees something coming. The fallen man tries to get up but he seems hurt,

"Hurry, get up!" something seems to catch his eye and he's totally frozen with fear. The fallen person turns and looks at something, something I can't see before a blade like weapon pierces into his skull staining the wall. The hold finally releases and I end up slipping on a stair nearly dragging Christopher with me. I hear him trying to talk to me but my head is so fuzzy I can't make out what he's saying.

"-alright?" I shake my head trying to clear my head

"W-what?"

"I said are you alright?"

"Yeah…just give me a second please." Looking up I can see the weapon had grazed the wall most likely meaning it was too big to swing in here freely. I can't help but look down at my hands. _Am I somehow pulling the memories of the soldiers into my head? But how…that doesn't make any sense. I don't have any abilities like that and Soul he…maybe it's him somehow helping me to do it unconsciously. Is that what it was? _Finally I open my mouth,

"I…I think what ever or whoever came through the light drove the soldiers down here."

"What do you mean Miss Airi?" Thomas asks.

"just now…I saw one of the soldiers die…I saw it all right up to the point he was killed but I didn't get a good look at who did it. it happened before too…I touched the circle and I saw whoever it was come through the light and drive them down these stairs."

"Hold on have you been able to do this the whole time?" a rather stern Eduardo asks me,

"No…at least I never knew I could…this is only the second time it's happened."

"Can you tell if whoever it is; if they're still down here?" Captain asks me.

"no…but …I keep getting a chill throughout my body like something's wrong…I don't think we should stay here any longer." I answer honestly.

**That might be for the best. **

"Soul?"

**there's nothing here but a bunch of dead bodies.**

"…you mean all the soldiers are dead?"

"What?!"

**that's right. What ever I was chasing led me down here and I found all the bodies basically torn apart, mutilated, gouged it was like they were cut by something. I have a feeling they might still be down there; it's best if we go back. **Explaining what Soul told me we all decide unanimously to go back rather than looking for trouble.

…..

to be continued…


	8. Chapter 8

The Unknown Creature: Part Three

Being the most anxious to get out of the dark I reach the top of the stairs first. My relief however is short lived; something in the lobby has changed making all my fears return. As the others reach the top it only makes them tense even more. a hand on the ground still freshly severed due to the slight twitching it keeps doing leads to a trail of blood that still seems wet.

"That's not a good sign." _Some one…someone was still alive…and…and…did we just miss them? but we would have heard them right? _"Stay on guard; what ever made this mess could still be around." Captain Morgan warns the others as he places a hand on the sword at his waist. I can sense Soul changing into attack mode; his instinct to kill takes over.

"**Soul don't hurt the others okay…?"** I get no answer but I highly doubt he'll go after the others. The chill I've been feeling ever since this morning seems to be intensified; I can't tell as to why but I can only try to stay out of the way. Looking down I can see the cut marks in the ground of what ever came in here; following the trail and the blood it leads to the now broken and shattered door. Slowly I make my way over to the door. I hesitate for a moment looking back at the others looking around making sure the cost is clear; I turn back around.

_It's ok…I…I have Soul._

Slowly I make my way out the door, stepping on the shattered glass and wood framing. Outside the wind moans yet it somehow remains eerily quiet. Slowly I make my way down the stairs. _One step at a-_

"Ahh!" something suddenly pulls on my leg nearly tripping me. I look down although I wish I hadn't.

"R…uun…geh…get…ou…!" the something that has my led turns out to be a someone, a soldier. One of his hands is missing and the other that has my leg is mangles and barely recognizable. His whole body has cuts all over and it looks as though parts of him have been chewed off.

"EEK!" I yank him off scared and end up tripping backwards.

"Ruu…nn!" he crawls a few inches over to me. "It…sssstill…he…heerree…" with that as his final words he collapses dead on the ground. My body shakes as I stare at the body still in the grip of fear.

"Airi…!" the others hearing the noise outside rush out to tee what's going on. Someone grabs ahold of my shoulders and shakes me, "Airi…Airi." Finally I blink looking over at Christopher, "What happened?" all I'm able to do is look back at the body;

"What the hell…!" Nathan exclaims

"Wh-what happened to him?" Thomas asks

"Airi what happened?" Captain Morgan asks me,

"He…he said it's still here."

"What's still here?" as if to answer his question a huge blade crashes into the ground piercing the body. Another blade appears by us before a body follows the appendages. The thing opens it's mouth to reveal three different rows of teeth. The thing is as big as the opening to the door we came through or even as big as a grizzly bear. It's twice as tall of all of us. the blades from before turn out to be its legs that hold up a massive muscular body. A tail trailing behind it is covered in spines. It raises the body up to its mouth eyes glowing red as it devours over half of the body in one bite. The other half then slides off its blade like leg and hits the ground. As it reaches to grab hold of it again it notices us. it lets off a massive hiss as it opens it's mouth. A blade digs into the ground near Thomas.

"**SOUL!"** and invisible force knocks the thing in it's face as Soul attacks the creature before picking it up by its tail and throwing it into another building. While the creature is disoriented we try to make a run for it but soon the ground starts to shake as the thing comes after us. A blade landing in between our group causes us to split up; Christopher pulls on my arm as he leads us behind some rubble. I peak from behind and catch a glimpse of Eduardo pulling out his gun and aiming for the creature. Russell gets underneath it and tries slashing at its legs. But the blades seem to bounce off not causing any sort of damage at all. Eduardo fires but the bullet only seems to bounce off the creature and only succeeds in making it angry. It charges after him and all Eduardo can do is try to lose it. Nathan wraps his chain around one of the legs hoping to slow it down but all that happens is that he gets dragged along with it. Thomas tries to help but as soon as he catches Nathan he's dragged along as well. The creature starts to close in on Eduardo and would have if Russell hadn't pushed him out of the way. The creature doesn't seem to be able to turn very well and knocks into a side of a building. Morgan tries to pierce his sword into the monsters chest while it's down but it sees the attack and uses its tail like a club swatting him back before standing again. Christopher pulls me back down behind the shield of rubble,

"Stay here." _No don't leave me here!_ But before I can even stop him Christopher is gone. Again I peak out from behind the ruble again; Morgan seeing Christopher trying to help Nathan and Thomas still being dragged by the creature he tries to keep it busy so it doesn't notice. Attacking before dodging attacks seems to be the only thing that Morgan can do while Christopher tries to help. Russell and Eduardo do what they can to take some of the force from the creature but it mainly seems to be after the captain.

"Soul can you zoom in on the thing?" I join my mind with his as Soul looks at the creature. There doesn't seem to be any weakness that I can see. Suddenly I catch something out of the corner of my eye. I open my eyes ignoring the pain in my head and the bleeding of my nose,

"SOUL HELP CAPTAIN NOW!" the creatures tail swings the side with the most spines straight at Morgan. The air becomes distorted for a moment before Captain Morgan is knocked into a building.

_NO! No no no! _

"**Soul we have to do something!"**

**I can't the others are too close; I can't kill that thing without hurting one of them!**

_Soul's the only one that can take care of this though…what can I do? There has to be a way to…_ _that's it. _

**Hey I know what you're thinking! Didn't you hear what the doctor said?!**

"**If I stay here they'll all die."**

**But-**

"**They don't have an invisible guardian; I do! Soul you and I both know what that thing is. They won't be able to kill it! you can!"**

…

"I'm going to get its attention…you find a way to kill it."

**I don't like this plan.**

"That makes two of us…but this it the only way Soul." I look around and find a rock. It suddenly floats into the air. "Don't throw it just yet." I take a deep breath and jump out from behind the crumpled wood. Looking back at the buildings I find one that looks like a storage building. Not big enough for it to follow me in and directly in it's line of sight. I start running heading for my target. **"Now Soul."** I look back catching sight of the monster hissing as it turns spotting me. Christopher is finally able to help get Nathan and Thomas off the creature. As soon as I turn back around I can hear the thing stomping on the ground as it comes after me. I don't look back I keep running for the storage house. I reach for the door and pull but it's locked.

"Open please!" I pull on the door as hard as I can, "Soul I can't open it!" the ground shakes even harder as the creature charges at me. I pull so hard on the door that I nearly yank my arms off but manage to open the door. In the empty room I make my way to the back running into a wall. Within seconds the entire foundations cracks from the impact of the creature. It roars menacingly as it tries to stands. Outside I hear things whizz through the air as the creature hisses angrily. Soul seems to be trying to find a weak spot but nothing seems to be working.

**Move to your left!** a second after Soul's warning a blade appendage cuts in through the ceiling just inches away from where I'm standing. **Right! **Again I move according to his warning and continue to do so at the creature breaks into the building from above. _I have to get out of here! _I run for a different side of the building at top speed; just before I jump through the wood shatters and creates a hole for me to escape. My footing isn't that great and I end up rolling on the ground. as soon as I stop I try to get back up but am met with the things horrible face as it lands just above me.

"SOUL! HELP ME!" using nothing but shear force and his rage to fuel his power, Soul unleashes a shock wave that some how cuts into the creatures hard hide on it's side. It roars in pain stepping back and driving its blades into the ground. Suddenly it turns and raises its tail before slamming it into the ground. I roll out of the way, first to my left then to my right, again and again; it's all I'm able to do as it attacks and Soul tries to find a way to kill it. One blade comes dangerously close to cutting into my side and catches on my shirt. Now I have nowhere to go. Frantically, just as I was when I was a child I try to free myself from the maw of the creature that had me back then, I pull on the high quality shirt to try and fee myself. It raises the other sickle like weapon aiming for me. I can hear the others calling out but am unable to make out what their saying. Soul creates a force field between me and the monster to shield me from its attack. But before the creature can even try anything the ground suddenly crumbles under it's feet and under me sending us both into an underground cave. On the way down Soul maintains his shield protecting me from any harm that I would have encountered. Once I've landed I get up on my hands and knees to see where I am. From the look of things it's an underground cave that the soldiers had discovered. A few items they have in storage are down here.

"AIRI!" I look up and thankfully the booming voice I just heard was from Captain, "You alright!"

"Yes!"

"Idiot what the hell were you thinking?!" Eduardo snarls. "Now we have to go through the trouble of getting you out of there!" the comment makes me laugh.

**That's what he's worried about…?**

"Hee hee, sorry Eduardo! It looks like there's an entrance over there! I'll get out through there!"

"MISS AIRI; BEHIND YOU!" I turn just in time to see the creature charging towards me. I make a run for it and manage to get behind a formation of stalagmites and stalactites. One of the blades makes its way in between the formation and jabs into the wall behind me. Soul manages to grip hold of the blade and snaps off the limb causing the creature to rear back in pain. Blood gushes from the wound as it stumbles backwards. Taking advantage of the distraction I try to get from behind the formation and make a break for it to the exit. But something takes hold of my leg tripping me; it digs into my skin and nearly breaks my foot causing me to scream. I look back to see that I'm being dragged straight to the monsters mouth. I try to grab hold of something but can't reach anything. Closer and closer I get when suddenly the tongue snaps and I'm free. I get but and limp away as fast as I can but even with one leg missing the thing still comes after me. Behind me I hear a thunking sound followed by a thud. When I turn I see the creature with stalagmites and stalactites in its body struggling to get up. More break off from every direction as Soul fires them into the monsters body. With each one the creature moves less and less until finally it stops moving. A pool of blood spreads under its body as it lays still. Wanting to make sure it's dead I limp a bit closer; only close enough to see the death in its eyes. I wave my hand out a bit making sure it can't move and when it doesn't I let out a sigh of relief. There's a huge roar from the creature as it tries to get at me and I scream. An image from when the monster attacked me as a child appears in my mind for a split second and suddenly I find myself back in that forest trying to crawl away from it again. Something bumps into me from behind and grabs ahold of me only making me panic even more.

"No! No! Get off me! GET OFF ME!"

"Airi! Stop!"

"NO SOUL! HELP ME, SOUL!" _why isn't he attacking! Why isn't he helping me?!_

"Airi!" I struggle against what ever is calling me and manage to some how clock them. For a moment it feels as though I'm freed but then they grab ahold of me again,

"Airi STOP! Open your eyes!" the person shakes me as I struggle but I still open my eyes finding myself back in the cave, "It's me…! It's Christopher…" I stop fighting against him,

"I…It tried to…!" I can't even finish my sentence as I fall on his shoulder and let loose my tears.

"It's ok. It's over…"

"No it's not…!" I say after a sob. "It came from that world too! It happened again…! Another one got through! Another got through…"


End file.
